The Eureka Springs Story (2024)

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Title: The Eureka Springs Story

Author: Otto Ernest Rayburn

Release date: March 19, 2019 [eBook #59099]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EUREKA SPRINGS STORY ***

BY
Otto Ernest Rayburn

DIAMOND JUBILEE EDITION
1954

Drawings by Gloria Morgan Bailey

Original Printing by
THE TIMES-ECHO PRESS
Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Second Printing, 1982, by
Wheeler Printing, Inc.
Eureka Springs, Arkansas

To my friend
SAM A. LEATH
who has served Eureka Springs
as guide and historian
for more than a
half century.

I
LEGENDS OF THE MAGIC HEALING SPRINGS

Legendary lore concerning the visitation of northern Indiantribes to what is now Eureka Springs, Arkansas is badly mixed and itis difficult to separate truth from fiction. It is difficult to prove theauthenticity of a legend. The stories we hear may have original pedigreeor they may be mere fabrications by imaginative writers. Inhistory, we have something to tie to, but this is not always the casewith traditional lore that is handed down by word of mouth fromgeneration to generation. It may be true or it may be a hoax.Tribal lore from the Indians themselves is usually accepted as authenticfor the redman was noted for his veracity and had the habit ofrepeating the tale without variation, but in recent years numerouslegends have been “cooked up” by white men and passed off aslegitimate tradition. Stories are told that the Indians never heard of.The reliable legends are those that come from the Indians themselves,properly documented.

There are at least three legends of visits of redmen to the “MagicHealing Springs,” as they called them, before white men settledthe region. They go back about four hundred years and each of thestories has similar motif. The beautiful daughter of a famous chief,living in the cold north, is stricken with some dreadful disease or haslost her eyesight. The chief tries all the medicine men available butwithout success. He hears of the healing springs far to the south andtreks thousands of miles through the wilderness to get his daughterto the coveted spot. The girl bathes in the water and is healed. Sometimesshe falls in love with a handsome brave of the local tribe andmarries him. In one case the girl is Mor-i-na-ki, daughter of a Siouianchief. Another story features her as the daughter of Red Cloud, aDelaware. Still another gives Noawada of the Dakotas as the chiefand his daughter is Minnehaha (Laughing Water). Each of theselegends runs about the same gamut of hardship and privation and endswith the same climax of healing. It is easy to assume that they alloriginated from the same source, but this may not be true. The historianfinds in them sufficient evidence to conclude that the northernIndians did make long trips to the springs, and that the water waswidely known for its curative properties and healing powers. Butthere is no way of separating the chaff from the whole grain exceptfrom documented material.

W. W. Johnson, M. D., who began his practice of medicine at EurekaSprings in 1879, the year the town was named, says, “The traditionalhistory of the springs dates back to the days of Ponce de Leon, whohad sought for a fountain of youth where he and his followers mightbathe and quaff the waters and their age disappear, and they be clothedwith the habiliments of youth.” He goes on further to say: “The Cherokee4Indians, when in their southern home—previous to their removalto the Indian Territory—had a tradition that in the mountains far tothe west of their country, and to the west of the Father of Waters,there were springs that their fathers visited and drank of their waters,and were healed of their maladies. This tradition was handed downfrom one generation to another. After the removal of the Cherokeesto their present home in the Territory, many visited these springs,camped here, and drank these waters. Since the discovery by the whitemen the writer has conversed with members of the Cherokee tribe,and learned that these were the springs referred to in the tradition.”[1]

One basic legend that appears to be a part of most of the traditionalaccounts is that of the carving of the basin at the Indian HealingSpring, now called Basin Spring. J. M. Richardson in a letter toPowell Clayton of Eureka Springs, dated May 18, 1884 at Carthage,Missouri, says:

“It was in the summer of 1847 when a conversation took placebetween White Hair, principal chief of the Great and Little OsageIndians, and myself at the office of the agency on Rock Creek (nowKansas) relative to lead in Missouri and a celebrated spring in themountains. The chief said when he was a boy the Osages took leadout of the bottom of the creek and smelted it with dry bark, and thenrun it into bullets. He stated that where the lead was found was inthe prairie and in Missouri and two days’ travel from that place inthe mountains was a spring the Indians visited for the purpose of usingthe waters and getting cured. He said he never knew an Indian ‘gothere with sore eyes and drink the water and wash in it for a wholemoon but what was cured.’”

“The chief said Black Dog’s father, when a boy, scoured out a smoothhole in the rock out of which they would dip the water with cups;that the hole was about the size of the tin basins the white peoplewashed in. The Indians, supposing the spirit of the great MedicineMan hovered round the spring, never camped near it, and never hadany fighting near it. In considering Black Dog’s age, I conclude thebasin was scoured out seventy years previous to the conversation. Thechief said the water spread out over the rock and the hole was scouredin the rock to concentrate the water, and at times it was used to poundcorn in to make meal, and that I would know the spring by the holein the rock. The circ*mstance had entirely faded from my memory,but in visiting Eureka Springs in 1880, the conversation with the chiefrecurred to my mind. I felt sure that was the great Indian spring.”[2]

The vast amount of legendary lore about Eureka Springs provesat least one thing. The spring water was highly rated by the Indiansfor its curative properties. Their numerous trips from various partsof the country to visit this mecca is sufficient evidence that they foundwhat they were looking for.

II
THE STORY OF MOR-I-NA-KI

The tradition, that great healing springs existed far to the southof the land in which they lived, appears to have been wide spreadamong the Indians of the North in early times. Travelers, who visitedthese redmen in the early part of the nineteenth century, discoveredlegends that told of these springs and their miraculous cures. One ofthese travelers, Colonel Gilbert Knapp of Little Rock, Arkansas, whileon an exploring expedition in the copper-mining region of LakeSuperior, met a French half-breed who told him an interesting story.The exploring party was camped on an island near Cape Kenewaw,collecting agates and other beautiful gems which were found in abundance.One night, as they sat around the camp fire telling tales, theFrench half-breed, Jean Baptiste by name, told a story which ColonelKnapp thought referred to Eureka Springs. Here is the story:

“My mother, whose name was Mor-i-na-ki, or the beautiful flower,was the daughter of the greatest of the Sioux chiefs. My father,Louis Baptiste, was an agent of the Hudson Bay Company, whoseduties required him to travel with the sledge trains to the encampmentsof the Indians to purchase furs and peltries. On one of theseexcursions he met my mother, with whom he became enamoured. Heinduced her, with the consent of her father, to accompany him to atrading post of the company, where they were married by a Catholicpriest. My mother has told me of many of the traditions of my people.One of these relates to the journey of a large number of the tribe tothe far-distant south-land. It was many years ago, when one of thewinters was so prolonged and severe that many of the tribe died ofcold and starvation. One of the chiefs induced the remainder of thepeople to go with him to the south in search of food. After travelingat great distance they reached the forks of a rapid-flowing river, wherethe climate was mild and the game abundant. The country was inpossession of a tribe who cultivated corn and many kinds of vegetables.These Indians had large quantities of food and grain stored and werefriendly to the visitors of the north-land, and supplied them abundantlyfrom their stores. With all the advantages of this beautifulregion, the Sioux were not happy, because the daughter of their chief,who had brought them to this country, was stricken with blindnessand lameness and could not walk. When the medicine-men of thetribe who possessed this country heard of the sickness of the stranger-chief’sdaughter, they came to his lodge and told him of a spring ofwater flowing from the side of a mountain, only two days’ travel distant,whose water being drank would remove the sickness and restoresight to the blind. They said the water passed through great beds offlint, and in its passage it drew the fire from the rocks, and it was thisfire in the water which killed the pain and disease. On receiving thisinformation he had his afflicted daughter, with all his people, moved6to the vicinity of the wonderful spring. They camped near wherethe spring was situated, and at this spring was a basin in the rockwhere they got the water that cured the chief’s daughter. The chiefand his people stayed at the spring six moons, when the sick maidenwas restored to sight and health. After her recovery the chief returnedto his northern home, and ever afterwards the tradition of thesouth-land spring was carefully preserved in the tribe.”[3]

L. J. Kalklosch, reporting on this legend, gives this interestingaddition:

“When the chief of the tribe who possessed the country learnedthat the Sioux had camped at the healing spring, he sent a numberof his braves with stone hatchets to cut out basins in the rock at thespring for the convenience of the Sioux and his people. These menwith their flint hatchets cut one basin below the spring to hold thewater for drinking, and another just below for the purpose of bathing.The basins they covered with bark tents. After bathing in thewaters and drinking great quantities of it, the chief’s daughter’s limbswere restored to their natural condition, and her blindness was entirelyremoved, her eyesight being as bright and strong as ever.”[4]

A booklet on “The Eureka Springs”, published by the Matthews,Northup and Company of Buffalo, New York in 1886 says that theBasin Spring was so called because of a peculiar bowl-shaped cavityin the rock. Twelve feet farther down the hillside was originallyanother basin about five feet in diameter, which was used for bathingpurposes. According to this account, this basin was destroyed byoverhanging rocks falling upon it. The two basins in the rock, whichwere present when the town was first settled, are without doubt theones referred to in the extract of the legend given above.

A slightly different version of the legend of Mor-i-na-ki is givenin Allsopp’s “Folklore of Romantic Arkansas.” This version goes intodetail regarding the habits and customs of the Osage Indians who inhabitedthe area at that time. In this version, the Sioux knew of thetradition of the healing spring before they left their northern homelandand made the trip specifically to bring the princess to it.[5]

III
“THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH”

Legend says that healing springs in a far-away land were knownin Asia 2,000 years ago and that the tradition was later carried toEurope where it captured the imagination of certain gentlemen inSpain. L. J. Kalklosch gives a report from contemporary writersas follows:

“Before the Christian era, one Ferdinand Levendez, who was inthe Roman service for a time, made the acquaintance with a barbarianprisoner by the name of Malikoroff, from whom, in the courseof their chats, he learned the story of a fountain, the virtue of whosewaters would restore old age to the vigor of youth and of which, ifanyone drank continually, he would never die. He (Malikoroff) hadit from a Tartar Chieftain under whom he once served.
“The chief told him the fountain was far off in the interior of agreat island almost inaccessible on account of the snow and ice to beencountered in reaching its shore, but which, on being reached, itspread out into a vast world, most of which had a pleasant climate.
“Levendez told many of his friends this wonderful story uponhis return to Spain and the tradition lived in the fancy of many anaspiring and ambitious Castillian, even to the time of ChristovalColon when it received a new impetus in the mind of Ponce de Leonwhen he heard the same story told to him by the Mobilian Indians,on his first visit of exploration in Florida. This Indian chief saidthat he had the story from a Shawnee prisoner taken in battle, andthat the fountain was far to the northwest, and after crossing agreat river. Says the credulous Mobilian:
“‘I have not seen the fountain myself; I only know that theShawnee told me so, and he said that his father had drunk of thewater, and that he was restored to perfect health and activity afterbeing almost double with pains in his bones for six moons, and heproposed to guide me to the spot for his liberty, but the voice of theother chiefs was against me, and he was put to death. The story mayhave been true: I found all else true that he told me.’
“Ponce de Leon set out in search of this fountain but he did noteven reach as far as the Great River the Shawnee said must firstbe crossed (its width four times as far as he could shoot with anarrow); being wounded by the natives, he died in the summer of 1512,the remnant of his forces returning to Cuba.
“Now, is there not corroborating evidence of these stories, thoughreaching back 2,000 years, to convince us that the same spot and thefamous fountain lately discovered in Carroll County, Arkansas is theidentical fountain of the ancient tradition? Though it may not do allthe Tartan chief claimed for it, it does seem to do what the Shawneeasserted it would do, and even more, restoring hair to bald heads,and the gray hairs of age to the color they bore in youth.”[6].

IV
THE DISCOVERY OF THE INDIAN HEALING SPRING

The man largely responsible for the starting of a town at “thesprings” in Carroll County, Arkansas was a pioneer doctor namedAlvah Jackson. He was a man of many talents. He not only practicedmedicine but was also a great hunter and trader. In 1834 he wasshipping bear oil down the White River from Oil Trough in IndependenceCounty, Arkansas. The town of Jacksonville was named in hishonor.

During his hunting trips and trading expeditions into the hills,the doctor contacted many Indians. They told him of a healingspring hidden deep in the mountains that was a sacred spot to theredmen. Jackson began searching for that spring. From the informationsecured the spring flowed through a basin carved in atable of rock and was located near the head of a small creek withtwo prongs which flowed into White River eight miles away.

Dr. Jackson spent twenty years looking for this spring. In 1854he decided that he had found it in what is now known as Rock Springin north central Carroll County near Kings River. He immediatelymoved his family there. But he was not satisfied that he had foundthe coveted spot.

One day in 1854 while hunting in the mountains with his twelve-year-oldson, his dogs “treed” a panther in a rock cliff near the headof Little Leatherwood Creek. The boy was afflicted with sore eyelidsand while helping dig for the panther, got dirt in his eyes. Thedoctor told him to go down the hillside to a spring, to rake the leavesaway, and wash his eyes. The boy did as he was told and returned totell his father that the spring flowed through a basin apparentlycarved by hand. The doctor hurried down to take a look. He recognizedit as the Indian Healing Spring he had been searching for thesetwenty years. (This is the Basin Spring with its carved basin inthe Basin Circle at Eureka Springs.)

Each day following the discovery Dr. Jackson rode horsebackfrom his home at Rock Spring and filled his saddlebags with bottlesof water from the healing spring. His son bathed his eyes in thiswater and they healed rapidly. Then the doctor began peddling thewater to neighboring towns in Arkansas and Missouri, selling it underthe label, “Dr. Jackson’s Eye Water.”

When the Civil War broke out Dr. Jackson refused to take sides.He established a hospital in the Old Rock House that had been ahunter’s rendezvous for many years, and built a crude cabin on thebluff above it. It was open to all who needed treatment, but patronizedlargely by disabled Confederate soldiers. When the battle ofPea Ridge was fought twenty miles away in March 1862, this rustichospital was overcrowded. (The Old Rock House may be seen todayat the rear of Ray Harris’ Feed Store at the junction of Spring and9Main Streets, Eureka Springs. The Everett Wheeler home is at thesite of Jackson’s cabin.)

The old Rock House was both hospital and bath house. The doctortook hogsheads and split them into halves for bath tubs. Heordered his patients to drink the spring water until it ran out of theirmouths.

Cora Pinkley Call, in her book “Stair-Step Town,”[7] tells how thecurative waters of the old Indian Healing Spring were heralded tothe world and how it brought thousands of people from all partsof the United States to use the water for drinking and bathing. JudgeL. B. Saunders, of the Indian Territory, had moved his family toBerryville in the seventies in order that his son, Burton, might attendClark Academy. The judge had a leg sore that doctors had pronouncedincurable. He was a friend of Dr. Alvah Jackson and frequentlyhunted with him. The doctor invited the judge to try thewater at the Indian Spring for his leg. A cabin was erected at thesite and the Saunders family spent several weeks there. The judge’sleg was healed and he was so enthusiastic about it that he spread thenews to other parts of the country. Health seekers began to arrive atthe wilderness mecca, living in their covered wagons or putting uptents. By July 1, 1879 there were about twenty families camping nearthe healing spring.

Health Seekers Camped at the Basin Spring in July, 1879

V
THE STORY OF MAJOR COOPER[8]

Major J. W. Cooper was a plantation pioneer in Texas. He hadtaken part in the Revolution of the forties and then settled down togrow cotton and raise cattle on his vast acreage. Sometime before themid-century he made a trip to northwest Arkansas and spent sometime exploring a section of what is now Benton and Carroll counties.He liked the country, observed the vast stand of virgin timber, anddecided to locate there. In 1852 he sold his Texas holdings andstarted the long trek north.

The trip from south Texas to northwest Arkansas occupied tenyears. He had a large strongly built wagon with heavy wheels madeof bois d’arc wood which was pulled by giant oxen. He owned sixteenhead, eight being used to pull the wagon and eight in reserve. Theyokes used on these steers were of immense size. About a dozenNegro slaves accompanied the bachelor Major on this trip.

The reason for the long time occupied in travel was due to sicknessof the slaves. They were plagued with malaria; several of themdied. Because of this condition the major traveled slowly andcamped for long periods along the way.

On March 8, 1862, the Cooper caravan reached Elkhorn Tavern,Benton County, Arkansas. The Battle of Pea Ridge opened thatday and the Major’s party was caught in the midst of it. The Majorjoined the Cherokee Brigade of the Confederate Army and ordered theslaves to butcher the steers for meat. Early in the battle this veteranofficer received a wound and was carried from the field. Dr. AlvahJackson had set up a crude hospital near the Indian Healing springtwenty miles to the east and the Major reported there for treatment.After a few weeks he was dismissed and returned to his command.

Major Cooper returned to Dr. Jackson for treatment in 1863, butwas soon released. His last visit, near the end of the war, is reportedby L. J. Kalklosch as follows:

“It was in February, 1865, and the ‘Yankees’ were numerous inthe country, so that the ‘Johnnies’ were compelled to make themselvesscarce or fall into the hands and care of the enemy. MajorCooper did not care to have ‘Uncle Sam’ issue rations to him, sohe, with four of his men, were piloted to a secret cave, (the Old RockHouse shelter) by his medical advisor (Dr. Alvah Jackson), near thenow famous Basin Spring, and visitors find it one of the objectsof interest during their rambles over the city. Here he remained forabout two months and used freely of the healing waters. But eventuallytheir secret hiding place was discovered by the ‘Boys in Blue’and they thought it best to find different quarters. The conclusionwas not reached, nor steps taken too soon as they narrowly escaped11being captured by the Federals. One beautiful feature in the Major’sescape was that he was fully able to meet the emergency as thewater had fully relieved him of all his troubles.”[9]

As the war neared its close, the Major bought a tract of landbordering the present City of Eureka Springs on the west. He securedfresh oxen and drove to St. Louis to get saw mill equipment.He built his mill in “Cooper Hollow” and constructed a log housefor his home. At the end of the war his slaves were freed, but hesucceeded in getting white labor that had been “fired” from Mrs.Massman’s saw mill on Leatherwood Creek. For several years heoperated this mill, hauling the lumber to market at Pierce City,Missouri.

“Cooper Hollow,” half a mile northwest of the city limits ofEureka Springs is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Woolery. Theirmodern home is on the same site as Major Cooper’s log cabin. Thebarn stands on the old mill site. The beautiful spring continues itsabundant flow as it did in the sixties and seventies when it suppliedwater for Cooper’s pioneer milling enterprise.

The Old Rock House was a haven for hunters in the early days. It wasthe site of Dr. Alvah Jackson’s hospital during the Civil War.

VI
THE COW TRIAL ON LEATHERWOOD CREEK

During the half century before Eureka Springs was settled andnamed in 1879, settlers trekked in and built homes in the valleys andalong the streams of the western district of Carroll County. Theregion was popular with hunters because of the abundance of game.The virgin timber attracted men who set up peckerwood sawmillsto supply the pioneers with building material. It was a rugged environmentof hills and hollows and the settlers matched the mountainsin which they lived. Many stories are told of bizarre happeningsduring this early period and one of them is about the cow trialin a paw paw thicket on Leatherwood Creek four miles north ofthe present location of Eureka Springs.

It was in the lusty Carpetbagger Days of the late seventies orearly eighties. The Leatherwood and White River country wassparsely settled with hunters and timber workers who did a littlefarming to supply the table. The Arkansas-Missouri state linedivided the settlement and everything went well until two men gotinto a dispute over the ownership of a cow. One of them was afarmer living in Missouri, the other was a doctor living across the linein Arkansas. The bovine brute in question had no respect for fencesor the state line. If the grass was greener in Missouri, she pasturedthere, but occasionally she wandered into Arkansas to feed on theluscious provender of the hillsides and creek valleys. When in the“Show Me State” the Missouri farmer claimed ownership, but whenshe came to Arkansas the doctor “replevined” her and put her in hiscowpen. She was a good cow and her milk flowed as freely in onestate as it did in the other.

There was no Interstate Commerce Commission in those days toregulate such matters so the right of ownership in this particularcase became the talk of the neighborhood. No blood was shed overthe controversy, but there were fist fights from time to time whenthe argument went too far. At last the people of the communitygot tired of the uncertainty of the situation and petitioned the localjustice of the peace to handle it according to law as it was writtendown in the book.

The Squire agreed to consider the matter and rode over to BoatMountain to consult a constable who frequently worked withhim. They talked the matter over and decided to hold a trial “accordingto law” although they felt that the cow belonged to the Missourian.They figured the trial would draw a big crowd, if ’noratedaround considerable, and it would provide a good opportunity to sella barrel of liquor. This would compensate judge and constable fortheir efforts in upholding law and order in the community.

Cabins were few and far between in the hills in those days andnone were large enough to serve as a courthouse. The Squire hadhis own seat of justice under a cliff at the edge of a paw paw thicketon Leatherwood Creek. Numerous trials were held here during thereconstruction period following the Civil War and justice was dispensedto the satisfaction of the people of the hills.

A day was set for the trial and the constable began making therounds, giving summons to witnesses and jurors. He hinted that thecow should go to the Missourian. The late Louis Haneke, who wassixteen years of age at that time, was one of the jurors. Mr. Hanekewas a highly esteemed citizen of Eureka Springs in later years andoperated a hotel at the spa. The cow trial was one of his best stories.The summons read by the constable to Louie was as follows:

“Louie Haneke, you are hereby summoned as a juror in thecase of the cow trial to be held in the Bluff Dweller Courthouse onLeatherwood Creek. You are selected and appointed because ofyour good citizenship and your great knowledge of the law.” Louiefelt greatly complimented.

On the morning of the day set for the trial, men began arrivingearly on foot, horseback and in wagons. Some of them brought theirdogs and guns, hunting along the way. They hung their game intrees at the edge of the paw paw patch and stacked their guns, as theSquire ordered, in a corner of the rock shelter. A hillbilly minstrelwas in the crowd with his guitar and he sang old ballads to entertainthe men before court “took up.” Even during the trial thejudge would frequently declare a recess and call on the ballad singerto give his version of “Barbara Allen” or “The Butcher Boy.”

The rock shelter that served as a courthouse was under an overhangingledge of rock that provided floor space about ten by thirtyfeet. The front was covered with rough boards with a wide openingfor a door at one end. Near the door sat the barrel of moonshinewhiskey which the judge used as a seat while conducting the trial.In front of him were a couple of two by four scantlings, resting onwooden boxes, which served as both a bar of justice and a bar forserving liquid refreshments. Several tin cups were on the improvisedbar for the convenience of customers.

The Squire arrived early at the “courthouse,” put a spigot in thebarrel, set out his tin cups, and opened for business. As the men arrived,he wrote their names on the barrel with a piece of chalk. Whenthe men ordered drinks, he marked a tally opposite the name foreach drink served. Payment was to be made when the trial was over.Then each man paid according to the chalk marks opposite his name.

Promptly at nine o’clock the judge rapped for order and thetrial began. The men who claimed the cow were present with their14attorneys. The farmer’s attorney had brought a statute from Missouriwhile the doctor’s lawyer produced one from Illinois, none fromArkansas being available. The judge decided to use the Illinoisstatute, to favor the doctor and avoid suspicion. He appointed aforeman of the jury and the trial got under way. At intervals duringthe course of proceedings he would declare a recess for music andrefreshments.

The whiskey diminished rapidly as cup after cup was passed overthe bar and by mid-afternoon the barrel was empty. The judgeimmediately called a halt to the proceedings and instructed the juryto go to the paw paw patch and find a verdict.

After an hour in the thicket, the members of the jury discoveredthat they could not agree. Both the plaintiff and defendant werecalled in and questioned, but that didn’t help matters. Either thejury was putting on a show or some of its members were not followingthe court’s instructions.

The Arkansas doctor was a sly man and had provided additionalrefreshments, hidden in a brush pile in the center of the thicket.At the opportune moment, he produced a couple of jugs and thecontents were served complimentary to the jury. No one rememberedwhat happened in that paw paw patch after the jugs were emptied.

Most of the jurors were sawmill workers employed at Mrs.Massman’s saw mill. When news of the party in the paw paw thicketreached the mill, Mrs. Massman sent a man with a wagon to pick upthe men that belonged to her outfit. Some of them had crawled tothe stream for water and they were piled like cordwood in thewagon, hauled to the mill and lodged in a corncrib to sober up. Afew of the men remained in the paw paw thicket.

When these jurors woke up the next morning they found themselvesmarked with scratches, black eyes and bumps on the head.One of them had a couple of broken ribs. But none could recallwhat had happened the night before or how the trial ended.

The men “washed up” at the creek and proceeded to the courthouseto pay for the liquor they had purchased during the trial.There sat the Squire on top of the empty barrel, sound asleep. Theyawoke him and paid their bills according to the tallies chalked upon the barrel against them.

“How did the trial come out, Squire?” asked one of the men.“Did the Missourian get the cow?” “Gosh no,” answered the judge.“You drunken idiots gave her to the doctor.” “Well,” said the juror,“he had the most whiskey.”[10]

VII
THE NAMING OF THE TOWN

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” wrote Shakespeare,but we doubt if any other name for Eureka Springs would fillthe bill. It was old Archimedes of ancient Greece who first used theword EUREKA as an exultant expression and started it on the roadto fame. The story goes that King Hiero assigned Archimedes the jobof finding out the amount of alloy in his golden crown. The old mathematicianwas puzzled about how to do it for his laboratory was ratherinadequate for scientific research. But he was a good observer andone day as he was stepping out of his bathtub he noticed the waterrunning over the sides. This gave him the clue he was looking forand he rushed unclothed through the streets of Syracuse, shouting inhis enthusiasm, “Eureka,” which means, “I have found it.” The resultis known as the principle of Archimedes which states that a bodysurrounded by a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight ofthe fluid it displaces. Since that time the word has been used in manyparts of the world as an exulting exclamation. California adopted itas a motto in reference to the discovery of gold there. Nineteen stateshave towns or post offices named Eureka, but there is only one EurekaSprings, named on July 4, 1879.

The basin of the old Indian Healing Spring, now called BasinSpring, is located at the bottom of the Wishing Well in the Basin CirclePark. Mounted on the railing above the basin is this plaque:

“Directly beneath this sign is the original rock basin after whichthe spring was named. It was here on July 4, 1879 that Dr. AlvahJackson and about twenty-five families met and adopted the namesuggested by C. Burton Saunders, Eureka Springs.”

C. Burton Saunders was the son of Judge J. B. Saunders, and wasabout fifteen years of age at that time. He was a student at Clark’sAcademy in Berryville and it is possible that he had read of the discoveryof Archimedes in his science books. But it is still a matter ofdispute as to who suggested the name for the town. L. J. Kalkloschsays:

“When the discovery of the Healing Spring was a certainty, thevirtue of the water beyond dispute, and a village was springing up, thenecessity of a name suggested itself to the citizens and visitors as theywere. Some suggested that it be named Jackson Springs; others thatit be called Saunder’s Springs; but a Mr. McCoy, who had no doubtread of the discovery of Archimedes, said to name it Eureka, ‘I havefound it!’ This was agreed upon and the young mountain queen waschristened ‘Eureka Springs.’”[11]

I know not what the truth may be regarding the naming. I tellthese tales as told to me.

VIII
THE CITY IN EMBRYO

Eureka Springs was named on July 4, 1879 and it was a boomtown from the start. Within a year there were an estimated 5,000people living near the springs. L. J. Kalklosch tells about this phenomenalgrowth in the book he published in 1881.

“Little did Judge Saunders think in May, 1879, when he went withhis wife and son to camp in the wilderness, miles from anything inthe form of a permanent dwelling place, where the wild animals dweltunmolested except when disturbed by an occasional pioneer hunter,and among hills seemingly intended for light footed animals, insteadof man and domestic animals accompanying him, that ever a city, possiblythe first in the state, should spring up in so short a time.

“After his cure was an established fact, the news soon spread,passing from tongue to tongue, and other afflicted mortals, hearing thegood news in the wilderness, at once turned their eyes and footstepsin the direction of the star of gladness; and soon other cases of almostmiraculous cures were creditably established.

“The news spread like wildfire. Poor afflicted mortals were soonseen drifting in from all directions. Rejoicing, over the cures effected,was constantly rising in the wilderness. Many heard of the wonder,went to see, as did the Queen of Sheba, whether what they heardwas true, and they could exclaim with her that the half had not beentold. Others with an eye to speculation, soon found their way ‘throughthe woods’ to the modern Siloam so that by July 4th there were about400 people assembled in the gulch at the spring to celebrate the Nationalholiday. As yet the great discovery had not been noticed byany of our Journals, but had been conveyed from lip to lip, and thevisitors were principally from the surrounding country and villagesof northern Arkansas and southern Missouri. By the incredulous itwas denounced as a ‘humbug’ and the more credulous with havingfoolish delusions, the effect of the water being attributed to the powerof the imagination only. But as the doubting Thomases went oneby one to see if what they heard be true, on their return they reportedabout as follows:

“‘I don’t know; there seems to be something to it. I never hadwater act so on me. People may get well, but I don’t know whetherit is the water or not; they are swarming like bees and it is hard totell what it will do.’

“The writer resided at Harrison, Arkansas, forty-five miles eastand heard all the reports that went abroad, but believed it all to be akind of excitement that would abate with the coming of winter frost.He had not thought enough of it to ‘go and see’ as did many of hisfellow townsmen.

“About the first of July, 1879, Judge Saunders erected the first17‘shanty’ for the better protection of his family. Some people now venturedthe opinion that a village would grow up here, but no one was‘silly’ enough to predict a city of tens of thousands. Even a year laterthe absurdity of building a city in such a place, with no inducementbut the water, was talked of by many. The water has, however, provedto be quite sufficient to induce the building of a city.

“In August (1879) it presented the appearance of a camp meetingground and everybody was at the height of enjoyment. People werecamping in sheds, tents, wagons and all manner of temporary shelters;some were living in the open air with nothing but the canopy ofheaven to shelter them. There was nothing to do but to eat, drinkand pass the time away in social chat, telling, perchance of the ancientlegends of the ‘Fountain of Youth,’ the late discovery, their afflictionsand, the most important, their delivery from disease.

“To give it still more the appearance of an old time camp meeting,ministers of the gospel were here, and preaching was not uncommon.The preacher’s stand was frequently a large rock, and the gravellyhillsides answered for seats to accommodate the audience. Thehillsides were spotted with camp fires to warm the usual ‘snack’ orto bake the ‘Johnny cake,’ as up to that time there were no boardingaccommodations and each visitor brought his provisions with him.One of these fires had burned a tree partly off at its base, and whilenearly all were engaged in the noon-day repast, a tree fell and struckthe wife of Professor Clark of Berryville, causing her death in a shorttime. This was the first death at the famous springs, and a very sadone. The remains were taken to Berryville and interred there, to restuntil it shall so please the Almighty Being to give all mortals powerto put on immortality.

“Judge Saunders’ shanty was soon followed by another, and another,until the idea of a grocery suggested itself to Mr. O. D. Thornton.People were coming in daily and when their provisions failed theywere compelled to go out for a new supply. This Mr. Thornton decidedto remedy, at least in the line of groceries. Soon a rough plankhouse was erected near the spring and the first stock of groceriesbrought to Eureka Springs, amounting possibly to $200. People beganto rush in and plank or box houses were soon scattered over the hillsidesand across the gulches, all trying to get as near the spring aspossible without thought or regard of system or anything.”[12]

Mr. Kalklosch continues about the growth of the town and mentionsthe importance of the saw mills operated by Mrs. Massman andMr. Van Winkle. The first boarding house was set up by a Mrs. Kingfrom Washburn, Missouri. She could accommodate only five or sixboarders and was always full to capacity. Then the Montgomery Brothersput in a stock of merchandise and did a thriving business.

IX
JOHN GASKINS—BEAR HUNTER

Among the pioneers who settled in the vicinity of the Indian HealingSpring before the town of Eureka Springs was founded was theGaskin family who located on Leatherwood Creek in 1856. “UncleJohnny” as he was affectionately called by his friends, was one of thefamous bear hunters of the Ozarks and he left a record of his huntingadventures in a booklet entitled, “Life and Adventures of John Gaskinsin the Early History of Northwest Arkansas.” This little book,published at Eureka Springs in 1893, tells the Gaskin story from thetime the family moved from Washington County, Indiana to CarrollCounty, Arkansas in 1839, up to and beyond the founding of EurekaSprings half a century later. Most of it consists of his hunting escapades(he killed 200 bears in thirty years), but there are some referencesto his neighbors and the economic set-up of that day. In theintroduction he tells about the discovery of the springs and the community’searly development.

“As I was one of the first settlers in the country, living along thecreek three miles below Eureka Springs for thirty-eight years, I willtell something about the discovery of that place.

“I had hunted all over these mountains—killed bears and panthersand many other wild animals in nearly every gulch and cavein that vicinity. I have killed nine bears in the hollow near the DairySpring and many deer, for that was a good place for them. My regularstopping place was the Rock House, or cave, above the BasinSpring in which Alvah Jackson camped on his hunting trips. We oftencamped there, using the Basin water for our coffee and neverimagining it was more than pure water, until Uncle Alvah campedthere with them. They simply dipped the water up from the littlebasin.

“Then Uncle Alvah began to use the water for other diseases,finding that it was beneficial. He induced Judge Saunders and Mr.Whitson to go there in the summer of ’79. Then others began to comeand were cured and benefitted; the whole sides of the mountains werecovered with tents.

“I was there every day, watching and wondering. The peoplecrowded around the Basin Spring (that was the only spring at first,though in a short time others were discovered) dipping up the waterthat poured down over the rock into the little basin, one waiting onthe other.

“I would watch for hours, wondering how it could be that I hadused the water so long and now to see the crowds gathering there forthe cure of all kinds of diseases. Many who were not able to walkwould use the water and be able in two or three weeks to climb the19mountains, at that time steep and rugged and without roads. Wagonswould turn over in trying to drive too near the springs. Once on thebench of the mountains they would take off the wheels, and let theaxles rest on the ground. Then tents and afterwards houses wereerected.

“One incident that happened that summer impressed me withsolemn thoughts. For lack of a house a great many people gatheredunder the trees one Sunday to hear the preacher. A rain came up andwe all retired to the rock house. As I listened to a good sermon andsaw the preacher laying his book on the rock where I had so often setmy coffee pot, my mind ran back to the many times I had campedhere, to times when the scream of the panther or the growl of the bearmingled with that of my dogs in the fight. Little did I think thatafterwards I would sit here and hear the voice of the man of Godechoing among those rocks. I was convinced that the all-wise Creatorhad not made these mountains and valleys merely for the wild beasts.

“People kept pouring in, and in the fall and winter of 1879 myhouse was always full of sick and helpless people who had no shelter.We could never turn them away, and many times my wife and I had togive up our own bed.

“One miraculous cure I remember was that of a young man whowas brought helpless to my house by his father. He had rheumatismand had to be carried in from the wagon. He drank freely from thekeg of Basin water we had at the house, and then his father took himto town the next day and bathed him in the water two or three timesa day. In one week they came driving back and the boy was sittingup in the seat and could get around very well. The old gentlemanstarted on to his Missouri home with his son and a barrel of Basinwater....

“The town built up rapidly without much form or improvementof streets until after Governor Clayton located here, and through hisinfluence and energy the town soon had a railroad and passable streets,and then the springs were improved and the streets fixed, adding muchto the looks and comfort of the place. Now it is one of the most picturesquetowns to be found in the state, and is visited both for healthand pleasure. The town has many magnificent buildings and substantialenterprises, including the Sanitarium Company, which hasgrounds near Eureka Springs and is doing much in the way of improvements.The beautiful scenery in every direction fills the visitorwith astonishment not to be described with the pen.”[13]

One story is told about John Gaskins and his encounter with abear near Oil Spring on the outskirts of Eureka Springs. Some say itwas another hunter who killed the bear, but the incident is usuallycredited to Uncle Johnny.

The White Elephant rooming house was located near where MountAir Court now stands. It was in the early eighties and Eureka Springshad no water system such as we have today. Water was carried fromthe springs for drinking water and household use. “Aunt Min” whooperated the White Elephant was worried. It was customary to senda couple of girls to Oil Spring down under the hill for water, but abear had been seen in the vicinity of the spring and the girls wereafraid to make the trip. Water was needed at the White Elephant so“Aunt Min” sent for Uncle Johnny Gaskins, a famous bear hunter,who lived on Leatherwood Creek north of town.

Uncle Johnny arrived at the White Elephant early one Novembermorning, his trusty double-barrel muzzle loader in the crook of hisarm. He would get the bear if it had not already taken to its den forthe winter.

“Take a bucket and bring back some water,” said “Aunt Min.”

The hunter took the wooden pail in one hand and his gun in theother and started down the hill, his eyes alert for bear tracks. It wasa cold morning and he put his hands into his pants pockets, carryingthe bucket in the crook of his left arm, the gun in the crook of hisright. Two hundred yards down the hill the trail makes an abruptturn to the cliff from which flows the Oil Spring. At this point Gaskinscame face to face with a large black bear followed by a half-growncub.

He had killed many bears in close quarters and seldom got excitedabout it. But this occasion called for quicker action than he had everexperienced. Before the hunter could get his hands out of his pocketsthe bear had the end of the barrels of the gun in her mouth, chewinglike mad. There was no time to get the gun to his shoulder so he firedfrom the hip, pulling the triggers of both barrels with his left hand,the bucket still on his left arm. It stopped the bear all right, almostblowing the animal’s head from its shoulders, but it did more thanthat. The end of the barrels in the bear’s mouth caused the gun toexplode. Gaskins got a severe wound on his right forearm from the“kick” of the gun. The end of the barrels were twisted out of shapeby the explosion. You may see the twisted barrels of this old gun atthe Ozark Museum, Highway 62 West, Eureka Springs. Go and seefor yourself.... Oh, yes, they had bear steak and spring water for dinnerat the White Elephant that day.[14]

Vance Randolph gives this tale under the title “Uncle Johnny’s Bear” inWho Blowed Up the Churchhouse? (New York, 1952), pp. 72-73.In his notes (p. 200) he says:

“Told by a resident of Carroll County, Arkansas, March, 1934.This individual credited it to Louis Haneke, who used to run theAllred Hotel in Eureka Springs. Sam Leath, secretary of theChamber of Commerce at Eureka Springs, told an almost identicalstory in 1948, and showed me the remains of a shotgun whichhe said was used in killing the bear. Otto Ernest Rayburn wrotea story based on Leath’s account. It was published in the EurekaSprings Times-Echo (April 20, 1950) and reprinted in OzarkGuide (Spring, 1951, p. 53). Rayburn says ‘the twisted barrelsof the old gun may be seen at the Ozark Museum,’ which is onHighway 62, west of Eureka Springs. Both Leath and Rayburngive the name of the hunter as Johnny Gaskins, who killed morethan two hundred bears and wrote a book (Life and Adventures ofJohn Gaskins, Eureka Springs, Ark., 1893, pp. 113) describinghis hunts in great detail. But Gaskins does not mention this adventure.Some old residents think it was Johnny Sexton whokilled the bear at the ‘White Elephant.’ Cora Pinkley Call (inPioneer Tales of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. 1930, p. 24) prints aphotograph of Sexton with a shotgun in one hand and a wildcatin the other without any reference to the White Elephant. ConstanceWagner tells the story in her novel Sycamore (1950, pp.151-52), but doesn’t mention the bear-slayer’s name.”

The Basin Spring as it appeared in the early days.

X
“WATER PACKIN’ DAYS”

The first settlers at Eureka Springs considered the water fromthe Basin Spring to be a potent agency for healing and rejuvenation.Judge J. B. Saunders, one of the first to try the water, gave this report:

“In five weeks I lost thirty-three pounds in weight and forty oddpounds during my stay, and felt that I had been fully renovated, ormade new, and was as active then and now as I ever was in my life. Iwill also add that from the frequent bathing of my head in its waters,and the improved condition of my health, portions of my hair changedfrom a yellowish white to black, its original color. The color of thehair then grown was not changed, but a new crop grew out from thescalp, the color of my hair in my younger days.”[15]

John Gaskins, the old bear hunter, seemed to think the waterfrom this spring might influence the mental as well as the physicallife of those who used it. He wrote:

“I want to add that I believe we are raising boys here at EurekaSprings on this pure water who will have the brains for presidents. Ioften tell people that I have made it possible for them to raisechildren here by killing the bears and other wild animals. Now inmy old days I have the pleasure of seeing so many nice healthy childrenthat I feel repaid for all that I’ve gone through, and sincerelyhope that my efforts have not been in vain.”[16]

The late Amos J. Fortner was brought to Eureka Springs by hisparents in 1882. He was a young lad with his body twisted with infantileparalysis. Here is his story:

“Life in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, was almost unbelievablycrude in the early days of 1882 and 1883, three or four years after the‘healing springs’ were discovered by white men, and the place becamea mushroom city of five or six thousand people almost overnight.No water works, no sewer system, no paved streets, no street cars and,of course, no automobiles.

“My first memories of the town that was destined to become theleading health resort of the Ozarks are of gangs of men drilling andblasting on the side of the mountain to change Spring street in thevicinity of Sweet and Harding springs. Previous to that time SweetSpring was in a little hollow far below its present location and almostexactly underneath a high foot-bridge which spanned the ravine. Thebridge permitted a short cut from the Crescent Springs district to thedown-town area. Somehow they were able to locate the undergroundflow of water and bring it out to the present street level. Then, ofcourse, the original Sweet Spring went bone dry. I rather believethey relocated the Harding Spring also, but I am not sure of this. So23it happens that the convenient locations of some of the springs onSpring street are not entirely the work of nature.

“In after years I often saw crowds of people waiting their turns tofill their pails with the good water from Sweet, Harding and CrescentSprings. These scenes would give a new and vivid meaning to a pictureon one of the cards I received at Sunday School: ‘Women waitingat the well.’ I would use my childish imagination and wonder ifan angel was hidden in some dim corner by the bath house to ‘troublethe water’ so that the people who came to bathe could receive miraculoushealing.

“Property values in those days were based considerably on theproximity to some good spring. Consequently the homes of the well-to-dopeople were not located on the hill-tops but on the lower levelswhere water was plentiful and easy to obtain. We poor folks livedhigher up on the hill where rent was cheaper. Generally, we didn’thave to pay any rent at all, but, of course, we had to carry our watera long ways and up the steep hillside.

“I recall that my brother, who had an inventive turn of mind,built a rolling water keg so that he could ‘horse’ the water up themountain side and not have to carry it. My sister and I would frequentlyhelp him pull the keg up the steep places on the trail. Butliving that way on the very tip-top of Eureka’s sun-kissed hills hadits compensations. We, the poorest of the poor, did actually ‘lookdown’ on the poor rich people on the lower levels.

“Another advantage of living high up on the hill was the wonderfulview. My brother some how got hold of an old Civil War telescopeabout three feet long and we would look through it and countthe chickens in the yards on East Mountain. I would sometimes liefor hours on my stomach in our little yard and travel far away amongthe pines and cedars growing on the distant ridges. One time I saw aboy and girl sitting together on a distant hillside with their armsaround each other and when they kissed I almost passed out for I wasonly seven or eight years old at the time. I saw other things throughthat old telescope that I should not have witnessed at my age, but let’sskip that. Many happy hours did I spend with the old ‘seeing eye’and I am quite sure that my passionate love for Nature stems fromthe beautiful things I saw through it from Crescent Hill.

“The city of Eureka Springs owes a great deal of its picturesqueand rugged beauty to one man—Powell C. Clayton. He had a vigorousprogram of creating beauty out of a medley array of tumbledownshacks that dotted the hillsides. Of course, he made enemieswith some property owners. Property values were certainly low atthat time. My father bought one of the old-time houses and three citylots for $100, paying $5 down and $2 a month. Previous to that time24we had lived in at least ten different houses during a five year period.Not one of these houses had a stone or cement foundation except alongone edge which rested on the hillside. Usually the building was supportedby spindly wood posts, the length determined by the steepnessof the hillside. Some of these houses were so high from the groundthat we could walk around underneath without bumping our heads.One of them had a southern exposure and it was so high off the groundthat the sunshine would reach back far underneath. My mother tookadvantage of this spot for early spring garden, planting radishes, onionsand lettuce. A little later cornfield beans were planted and trainedup the posts that supported the house. That year we were eatinggarden vegetables some weeks earlier than any other family living innorthern Arkansas.

“We had to move frequently. The house we lived in would becondemned and an official city demolition crew would tear it down.But always Mr. Clayton would tell my parents of some other house inwhich we could live, rent free, until it came time to tear it down, thenwe would move again. At one time when my father was out of town,Mr. Clayton even paid the expenses of our moving. But he was in ahurry that time. He wanted to immediately start clearing the groundfor the erection of the Crescent Hotel and our shack was on the spotwhere the hotel was to be built. Oh how I hated to leave that hilltop!

XI
THE COMING OF THE RAILROAD

The “CASEY JONES” legend of railroad lore does not tie up withthe turbulent history of the North Arkansas Line, but the two episodesdo have a far-fetched parallel. If trouble is a weld of incident thereis a connection between the two. The wreck of No. 382 of the CannonBall Express at Vaughn, Mississippi, on May 1, 1900 brought Caseyinto railroadana’s hall of fame, but the North Arkansas Railroad, nowthe Arkansas and Ozarks Line, experienced almost continued troubleduring its first 60 years of history. The ballad makers have missed agood bet in ignoring the harrowed tale of this mechanical step-childof the central Ozarks. Time will probably weave the story into alegend, but that day has not yet arrived.

The Ozark region has had many ups and downs since the “ArkansawTraveler” tuned his fiddle in the Pope county hills. Most of thefrustrations, however, were of short duration. But the North ArkansasRailroad as a problem child of industry is written large in Ozarkhistory. Two sections of the line have been reopened for service aftera tense struggle for survival. The following historical outline will explainthe difficulties the line has had:

1881. The Frisco Railroad, headed toward Oklahoma and Texas,reached Seligman, Missouri, this year. Eighteen miles to the southeastwas the booming resort town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, whichhad been settled and named two years before. The traveling publictired of the slow stage coach service, and the local business menwanted a branch line from the Frisco to the Spa. St. Louis capitalgot busy and a twelve-mile line from Seligman to Beaver, Arkansas,on White River was built. It was named the Missouri and ArkansasRailroad.

1882. The road was extended six miles, from Beaver to EurekaSprings, under a different company which was organized by PowellClayton, then a resident of Eureka Springs. The two short lines consolidatedas the Eureka Springs Railway. A schedule of nine trainsa day, most of them with pullman service, filled the resort town withhealth seekers.

1899. A company was organized to extend the road into the hillcountry to the south and east. It was financed by business men ofLittle Rock, St. Louis and New York.

1901. The line was completed to Harrison and named the St.Louis and North Arkansas Railroad.

1902. An extension was built from Harrison to Leslie giving theline a trackage of 120 miles.

1905. The road had financial difficulties which ended in a foreclosure,28but the stockholders started a program of expansion, determinedto keep the road and make it pay.

1909. The road was extended from Leslie to Helena on the south,and Seligman to Joplin on the north, making an interstate railroad369 miles long.

1911. The Shops at Eureka Springs and Leslie were abandoned.Harrison put up a donation of $25,000 and the shops were locatedthere.

1914. On August 5th there was a disastrous wreck at Tupton Fordbetween Joplin and Neosho when the M. & N. A. motor coach wasstruck by a Kansas City Southern passenger train. Forty-three peoplewere killed and many injured. Payments made to families of the victimsalmost depleted the already low treasury.

1917-1919. The M. & N. A. was operated by the government duringWorld War I.

1921. On February 1 wages of employees were reduced by 20 percent. This was followed by a walkout which became a strike that lastednearly two years, causing much ill feeling and hardship. On July31, operations on the road were suspended.

1922. Service on the road was reopened under new managementbut they had serious difficulties in operating the line.

1927. Into the hands of the receiver again.

1935. The road was sold at auction and bought by the Kell familyof Wichita Falls, Texas, for $350,000. The name was changed to theMissouri and Arkansas.

1941-42. Offices and shops at Harrison were destroyed by fire.

1945. A disastrous flood destroyed much track.

1946. On September 6 there was a walkout of employees whichled to an application for the abandonment of the property.

1948. Movement was started to reorganize and resume operations.

1949. The line was purchased and reorganized. The section betweenCotton Plant and Helena was revived as the Helena and NorthwesternRailroad. It started operations early in the year. The trackagebetween Harrison, Arkansas and Seligman, Missouri became theArkansas and Ozarks Railway. Two Diesel engines were purchasedfor this 65-mile line. Trains carry carload shipments only and theamount of business regulates the size and frequency of trains. Thesections between Joplin and Seligman in Missouri and from Harrisonto Cotton Plant have been junked.

That is a brief history of the “turbulent” North Arkansas Railroad.Few railroads in our history have taken the severe beatings this roadhas suffered. But the business men and farmers of the central Ozarksare determined that this section have a railroad. When abandonmentwas apparent in 1947-48, they arose like the embattled farmers of Concord29and Lexington and began a fight that has saved the road. Nowit is in a modified form with freight service only and over only a fractionof the original 369 miles of trackage, but residents of the stateare well pleased with the service and the line appears to be doing well.

The best historical narrative on the North Arkansas Railway isincluded in Jesse Lewis Russell’s history of northwest Arkansas,Behind These Ozark Hills (published in 1947). Pages 116 to 156 aredevoted to the “turbulent career” of this line.

In 1901 there was great excitement when the stretch of roadfrom Eureka Springs to Harrison was completed. People at the Spahired rigs to drive them forty-five miles to Harrison in order toride the first train back. It was a time for celebration and on thestreets and in the shops and hotel lobbies this verse was sung:

“A rubber-tired surrey,

A rubber-tired hack

We’re going down to Harrison

To ride the Booger back.”

We now have the “Booger” back and it is a pleasure to hearhim comin’ ’round the mountain, bell ringing, siren tooting, with car-loadsof lumber, mineral ore and Eureka Springs water for theoutside world.

About the time of the opening of the new Arkansas and Ozarksline, Clyde Newman of Harrison had an article in the Arkansas Gazettewhich gave most of the above data and some additional information.

XII
THE JAMES BOYS ON PLANER HILL

Legend connects Frank and Jesse James with this locality ina humorous episode that is not mentioned in the biographies of thesefamous outlaws. These men sometimes rode into Arkansas and itis reported that they had an uncle who operated a tavern at the stagestop on Planer Hill, before the town of Eureka Springs was started.It is quite probable that they sometimes “put up” with their unclewhen they considered it safe to do so. We have no historical recordsabout their visits here for outlaws seldom keep diaries and prefer tokeep their movements secret.

Several years ago an aged man visited Eureka Springs and askedSam A. Leath, who was the town’s leading guide, to show him to aplace on the old stage trail two or three miles south of the city. Findingthe spot he was looking for, just off State Highway 23, and not farfrom Lake Lucerne, the old man told the following story:

“’Twas in the 70’s when I resigned my parish at Ozark, Arkansas,to take over a church at Pierce City, Missouri. With four othermen I traveled north on the stage, which was the only transportationavailable at that time. My companions were strangers but congenialfellows and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride through the Boston Mountains.At this spot, just south of the stage stop, we were halted bytwo bandits who proved to be Jesse and Frank James. They orderedus from the coach and stripped us of our money and valuables. Placingthe loot in his hat, one of the highwaymen called me aside andasked me if I were not a minister of the gospel. I answered in theaffirmative.

“‘Your companions are notorious gamblers,’ said the bandit, ‘andwe have a special reason for robbing them. But with you it is different.We never take from preachers, widows, or orphans.’ With thesewords, he poured a generous portion of the booty into my coat pocketand warned me not to return it to the gamblers. The bandits thenmounted their horses and disappeared in the woods.

“There was an ominous silence among my four companions whileriding to the tavern. I couldn’t understand it. They made no complaintabout being robbed and gave no indication of reporting theincident to the law. Even the driver of the stage seemed unconcernedabout the affair.

“Upon arrival, I secured a room at the tavern for the night.As I was about to retire, I heard two men talking in an adjoiningroom. I recognized the voices as belonging to the two men we hadencountered on the road. They were occupying the room next to me.

“‘Do you suppose that man was telling the truth when he saidhe was a preacher?’ said one of the men.

“‘I think so,’ replied the other, ‘but to make sure we will testhim out at the breakfast table in the morning.’ He continued by outliningthe ‘third degree’ they would give me.

“I heard every word of the plan and prepared to meet it. Farinto the night I prayed for strength to meet the ordeal. Then I fellasleep and did not awake until called for breakfast.

“The brothers were waiting for me when I reached the diningroom. When I took a place at the table, the one I decided was Franksat down beside me. Immediately I felt the pressure of steel againstmy ribs. Jesse sat across the table in front of me. He asked me tosay grace.

“Never before did such a fervent prayer fall from my lips. Ithanked the Lord for the food, for guidance on the journey, for thewelfare of my old parish, for the people of my new pastorate, and,lastly, for the companionship of the two men who were with me. Iconcluded by asking that richest blessings reward them all throughlife.

“All through the prayer I could feel the gun pressing against myside and could sense the piercing eyes of the bandit leader from acrossthe table. When I concluded the prayer, we ate the food set beforeus and conversed in a congenial manner. At the conclusion of themeal, Jesse called me aside.

“‘You’re all right, parson,’ he said. ‘Luck to you in your newparish. If you travel this way again you may depend upon our protection.’

“I continued my journey and took up the pastorate at Pierce City.But I never saw the James brothers again.”[18]

XIII
HIGHLIGHTS OF HISTORY AND FOLKLORE

Judge Saunders of Berryville completed a cabin near the BasinSpring on or about July 4, 1879. A grocery store with a $200 stockwas opened by O. D. Thornton on July 6th. By the end of July therewere twelve crude dwellings perched on the hillsides near the BasinSpring. The population increased slowly during the first few weeksafter the naming of the town. A count was made on August 10 andit totaled 180 permanent residents. People began coming in largenumbers during the late summer and this immigration increased duringthe fall and winter. By July 4, 1880, an estimated 5,000 peoplewere living in the community and the sound of hammering could beheard day and night as new buildings were put up.

During the first few weeks, the Basin Spring was the center ofattraction, but it was not long until the other springs in the vicinitywere discovered and used. Streets had to be laid out and the firstproject was Main Street. H. S. Montgomery, with the help of twentymen, opened up the valley in August, 1879. Business openings duringthe first year included: Van Winkle, lumber yard; A. D. Mize, hardware;Dr. Hogue, drug store; Jefferson, saloon; Walquist, tailor shop,William Conant, livery stable. Dr. McCarthy was the first residentphysician and lived on the site now occupied by the Rock CabinCourts. The first manufacturing business was a cane factory operatedby a fellow named Cook. The first postmaster was T. M. Johnson.Hugo and Herman Seidel owned and operated the first produce housewhich stood at the mouth of Mill Hollow.

1880 and 1881 were boom years for the new town. Cora PinkleyCall in her Pioneer Days in Eureka Springs says that in 1881 therewere fifty-seven boarding houses and hotels, one bank, thirty-threegroceries, twelve saloons, twenty-two doctors, one undertaker, andtwelve real estate agents. Earl Newport, whose father, J. W. Newport,was one of the early business men of the city, showed me a pictureof about fifty boys who were “boot blacks” in the early days ofthe town. Earl was one of the boys who carried a portable outfit andgave a shine for a nickel. Mrs. Annie House, the oldest newspaperwoman in Arkansas, was a small girl when she came to Eureka Springsin 1879. She has been a resident of the town during the entire seventy-fiveyears and spent forty years working on local newspapers.Charley Stehm, artist in wood and stone, came to the town as a boyin the early eighties and lived here until his death, Sept. 22, 1954.

Transportation was a problem in the early days. Pierce City,Missouri, eighty-four miles to the north, was the nearest railroad point.In 1880, the Eureka Springs liverymen established a stage line thatconnected with the Butterfield stage at Garfield.

Eureka Springs was incorporated February 14, 1880. Elisha Rossonwas the first mayor, but he did not remain in office but a few months.The second mayor, Mr. Carroll, took a census in May, 1881, and thepopulation to said to have exceeded 8,000. In 1882, Eureka Springswas declared a city of the first class and ranked as one of the sixlargest cities of the state. Goodspeed, writing of this “Crazy Quilt”town about 1885, said:

“Everywhere that an abode can be constructed, houses of everydescription, tents and shelters, sprang up all over the mountain tops,hanging by corners on the steep sides, perched upon jutting boulders,spanning gulches, or nestling under crags in the grottoes. It is a mostpeculiar looking place, presenting an apparent disregard to anythinglike order and arrangement.”

The town had two disastrous fires in the eighties. The first onecame early in the morning of November 3, 1883, destroying the businesssection on Mountain and Eureka streets. A fine drug store waslocated in the V-junction of Mountain and Eureka, a livery stablewhere the Christian Science church now stands, and a bakery acrossthe street. The second big fire came in 1888 and burned the businesssection along Spring Street from Calip Spring to the PresbyterianChurch. 480 houses were destroyed. Only four frame houses wereleft standing in the area.

According to Goodspeed, T. J. Hadley brought a printing pressfrom Olathe, Kansas in November, 1879 and established the first newspaper.The date of the first issue of the Echo is given as February 21,1880. Within two or three years, the town had two additional newspapers,the Dispatch and the Herald.

Eureka Springs has had its full share of legend and folklore andsome of the fabulous tales are told with tongue in cheek. Take themarital swap of “Uncle” Adam and “Uncle” Dick. A couple called“Adam and Eve” lived in a rock shelter across the road from JohnsonSpring. Dick and his wife occupied an adjoining shelter to the south.One day Adam traded Eve to Dick for his wife and got a horse andbuggy and a dog to boot. Dick and his newly acquired wife left thecountry soon after the swap, but it is reported that the woman cameback later and lived with Adam. This happened, according to theold timers, about the turn of the century.

Vance Randolph, in Who Blowed Up the Church House?,[19] givesa different version of the wife-trading story. He heard the anecdotefrom an old timer in Eureka Springs about 1950. Here is his version:

“One time there was two old men lived up Magnetic Holler, rightclose to a little branch they call Mystic Spring nowadays. One ofthese fellows was Uncle Adam, and he had a wife. The other one wasknowed as Uncle Dick, and he didn’t have no wife, but he had two34cows. They got to trading jackknives and shotguns, and finally UncleAdam swapped his wife for one of Uncle Dick’s cows. Folks used totrade wives pretty free in them days, and nobody said much about it.Lots of them wasn’t really married anyhow, so there wasn’t no greatharm done.

“But it wasn’t long ’till word got around that Uncle Adam’s womanhad up and left him, and moved her stuff over to Uncle Dick’scabin. The next time Uncle Adam came into town, somebody askedhim if Uncle Dick had stole his wife. ‘Hell no,’ says Uncle Adam, ‘itwas a fair swap, all open and above board. Dick give me his bestcow for the old woman, and two dollars to boot.’

“Folks got to laughing about it, and one day the sheriff stoppedUncle Adam in the street. ‘This here trading wives is against the lawnowadays,’ says he, ‘And everybody knows a woman is worth morethan a cow, anyhow.’ Uncle Adam laughed right in the sheriff’s face.‘Don’t you believe it, Sheriff,’ he says, ‘Don’t you believe it! Why,that there cow of mine is three-fourths Jersey!’”

XIV
THE CAPTURE OF BILL DOOLIN

It was during the winter of 1895-96. Bill Doolin, the Oklahomaoutlaw was spending his “vacation” in Eureka Springs, taking thebaths and hiding out from the law. He had allegedly killed threemarshals at Ingalls, Okla., a short time before and committed othercrimes over a period of several years of outlawry, and the law washot on his trail when he disappeared at the first of the year, 1896.

Bill Tilghman, United States marshal, knew Doolin personallyand set out to capture him. At a boarding house in Ingalls he learnedthat the outlaw had gone to some resort in Arkansas for his healthand safety. The marshal selected Eureka Springs as the most likelyplace for Doolin’s hideout.

Tilghman arrived in Eureka Springs disguised as a preacher,wearing a Prince Albert coat and a derby hat. He registered at ahotel and left his baggage. He then walked to a little park in thecenter of town. A man was stooped over the spring, filling a jugwith water. When he raised up the marshal saw that it was Doolin.

Tilghman knew the outlaw was quick on the draw and did notattempt to arrest him. Instead, he dropped into a nearby shop andwatched him through the window. Doolin walked across the park,crossed a bridge that spanned a little stream, and ascended a flightof steps leading to a hotel.

Tilghman went back to the park, sat down and began thinking.He had left a shotgun at his hotel and his first thought was toget the gun, hide behind a tree and get his man as he came downthe steps. But he wanted to take him alive. Then he devised whathe thought was a better plan. He went to a nearby carpenter shopand ordered a box made long enough to hold his shotgun. It was tobe hinged and easy to open. With this contraption he could sit inthe park without attracting attention and get Doolin as he approached.The carpenter promised to have the box ready by late evening. Hewould polish it and make it look like a musical instrument case.That would mean another day in Eureka Springs. He would lay forDoolin early in the morning as he came from his hotel.

Tilghman ate lunch at a cafe and then having time to kill, decidedto take one of the famous Eureka Springs baths. He noticed theBasin Spring Bath House across the bridge from the Basin Circle.He walked into the hallway and opened a door at the left to enterthe lobby. His eye took in everything in the room at a glance. Therewas a desk in the corner with a man sitting behind it. Several menwere in the room, playing checkers or reading. One of them satbehind a pot-bellied stove at the east end of the lobby, his face behinda newspaper.

When Bill entered the room this man lowered his paper for an36instant. The marshal saw that it was Doolin.

“I want a bath,” said Tilghman and stepped quickly into thehall, walking in the direction of the room marked “Baths.” Halfway down the hall he stopped in front of a door that opened directlyinto the east end of the lobby; Doolin was sitting within a fewfeet of that door.

What if he had recognized him and was awaiting his entrance?He must take a chance. He pulled his .45 from its holster and openedthe door. There sat Doolin still reading.

“Put up your hands, I’ve got you covered,” said the marshal ashe stepped around the stove.

The outlaw’s eyes opened wide in surprise as he recognizedTilghman. He reached for his gun but Tilghman grabbed for hiswrist, missed and caught his coat sleeve. The sleeve ripped, buthe held on.

“Doolin, I don’t want to kill you, but I will if you don’t getyour hands up.”

Doolin saw that he was trapped and obeyed. Tilghman askedthe clerk to get the outlaw’s gun, but the man was so nervous thathe made several attempts before he succeeded in getting it out ofthe holster. The other men in the lobby had run like quail when thetrouble started.

Tilghman put handcuffs on Doolin and took him to his hotel toget his belongings. Among the items on the dresser was a silvercup the outlaw had bought for his baby boy. Tilghman put it in thesuitcase along with other things and they were on their way to thedepot to catch the 4 o’clock train. A boy was sent to the carpenterto tell him the box would not be needed.

When they got on the train, Doolin promised to make no attemptto escape and the handcuffs were removed. They arrived in Guthrie,Okla., at 10 p. m., and Doolin was placed in the federal jail to awaittrial. But that trial never came. He made a jail break in July, hidout on a Texas ranch for several months, and was killed by officerswhen he attempted to return to Oklahoma to get his wife and baby.

(Credit for source material on the capture of Bill Doolin goes tothe late Charley Stehm, an article in the Eureka Springs Times-Echoby Annie House, “Eureka Springs: Stair-Step Town” by Cora PinkleyCall, and “Marshall of the Frontier—Life and Stories of WilliamMatthew (Bill) Tilghman”, written by his wife, Zoe Tilghman andpublished by Arthur H. Clark and Company, Cleveland in 1949. Theincidents of the capture are somewhat similar in all these accountsbut Mrs. Tilghman goes into greater detail in reporting the story.)

XV
STORIES IN STONE

According to the information on the pictorial sign board in theBasin Circle Park, Eureka Springs has fifty-six miles of retainingwalls. Several years ago an old-timer told me he figured that thewalls of this town, if put end to end, would reach a distance of fortymiles. No one has taken the trouble to measure these walls so oneguess is as good as another. In addition to the walls, a large amountof stone has been used in the construction of hotels, homes and businessbuildings. 60,000 cubic yards of stone in the walls and buildingsof the city is a conservative estimate. In comparison with the GreatPyramid of Cheops in Egypt, the only survivor of the Seven Wondersof the ancient world, this mass of stone-work is comparatively small,but it is a lot of stone to go into the make-up of one small town. Itwould make a single wall four feet high, one foot thick, and approximatelysixty-six miles long.

The great Egyptian Pyramid consists of 3,150,000 cubic yards ofstone or about fifty times as much material as used in the buildingof Eureka Springs. The pyramid is about 450 feet high and covers13½ acres of land. It is made of 2,300,000 limestone blocks eachweighing 2½ tons. According to ancient historians, it took 100,000men twenty years to build it. At Eureka Springs, workmen in PowellClayton’s time, “the roaring eighties,” put up most of the wallsand buildings in a period of eight or ten years. The Crescent Hotelwas built in the mid-eighties and several business buildings were constructedof stone after the big fire of 1888.

The stone work of Eureka Springs may be only 1/50th of that ofthe great pyramid, but the labor involved was immense. The weightof 60,000 cubic yards of limestone is approximately 132,000 tons. Thestone was quarried near Beaver six miles away. It had to be transportedin wagons or on railroad flat cars to the townsite. If broughtby rail it was handled three or four times before it reached its destination.The mere lifting of the stone required at least three hundredmillion foot-pounds of work. If we knew how many foot-pounds aman can do in a day, we could figure the labor potential. The stonehad to be cut and laid by skilled workmen. Most of this stone, laidseventy years ago, is in excellent condition today.

Both limestone and sandstone are used for building material innorthwest Arkansas, but the sandstone must be of the harder varietiesto be useful for this purpose. Limestone is preferred, either ofthe Boone variety or marble. Marble limestone is found in CarrollCounty, but it is not as plentiful as other grades. The block of marblesent from Arkansas to be placed in the national Washington monument,was quarried near the corner of Carroll and Newton counties.

Onyx marble is found in this section and at one time Eureka38Springs had an onyx factory which used the stone in manufacturingjewelry. Great slabs of it were taken from the caves in the vicinity.It is a stone of many colors—white, cream, dull red, and yellowishbrown, with the colors usually in alternate stripes. It takes a brilliantpolish.

The agate, found in our hills, is a crystal formation, but the particlesare so minute that they are discernable only under the microscope.It is shaped by the cavity in which it is formed. The colorsdepend upon the mineral matter it contains; iron producing reds,saponite the greens, chalcedony the grays, and caladonite the blues.The agate is classed as a gem but it is also used in the manufactureof bowls, vases, signet rings, and for rollers in the textile industry.

William Cullen Bryant in his poem “Thanatopsis” spoke of theearth as “rock ribbed and ancient as the sun.” Perhaps he was wrongin his conjecture that the earth is as old as the sun, but we leave thatto the astronomers. It is true that the rock-ribbed earth is very oldand each of the “ribs” gives testimony of antiquity. One of the interestingfossilized remnants found in our Ozark country is the crinoid,commonly referred to as a sea lily stem.

Had old Father Neptune decided to pick a bouquet of sea liliesfor his wife, the lovely Amphitrite, he could have found them in abundance—onthe floor of the sea where Eureka Springs now stands. Accordingto the geologists, there were two periods, each millions ofyears long, and separated by millions of years, when this region wasthe bottom of the sea. The Ozark Mountains are the oldest range onthe North American continent and were at one time higher than theyare now. They rose from the sea, grew old and weathered to a mereplain, and then sank for a second inundation. During the millions ofyears that followed, which geologists call the Mississippian Period, aclass of sea lilies, called Crinoids, lived in the warm waters of thisvast sea.

These Crinoids were fixed to the bottom of the sea, preferring adepth of about 150 fathoms. They were attached permanently, ortemporarily, mouth upward, with a jointed stalk. At the top of thestem there was a muscular body that had both motor and sensoryqualities. It lived upon minute protozoa and other animalcules, whichit absorbed from the sea water.

When the sea receded from the North American continent theseCrinoids were preserved by nature’s chemistry. They were fossilizedinto the Boone Limestone. These fossils are found in abundance inthe Ozarks, especially at Eureka Springs, and in Benton county nearSulphur Springs, Arkansas. Some of the stems held together and appearas screw-like formations in the rock. Sometimes they were brokenup and the discs or segments of the stem are scattered throughthe rock strata. Two hundred seventy-five million years of the earth’s39past lie buried in this Ozark limestone.

I sometimes take tourists on hikes at Eureka Springs and one ofmy favorite trails is over East Mountain that rises abruptly from thevalley floor of this famous stairstep town. Near Onyx Spring I pointout the Crinoids in the rock strata which give mute evidence thatthis region was once the bottom of the sea. Some of these sea lilyfossils are almost perfect, others are broken into fragments.

One need not be a geologist, or even a student of geology, to observeand enjoy the rock formation of the Ozarks. The region is anopen book and even he who runs may read and enjoy it.

There are stories in the stones at Eureka Springs. Tourists whovisit Cork, Ireland usually go out to the village of Blarney, four milesdistant, and take a look at the medieval castle built by Cormac McCarthyin 1449. On the summit of the castle tower is the famousBlarney Stone which has been kissed by thousands of people from allparts of the world. It is an age-old superstition that to kiss this stoneendows one with the gift of coaxing, wheedling, flattery and blarney.Eureka Springs does not have a “Wheedling Stone,” but it does havethe Sliding Rocks at Little Eureka Spring which tradition has markedwith special purpose. The name, Sliding Rocks, has a double meaning.In the first place, two large flat rocks, each about twenty feetin diameter, stand tilted against the mountain side at an angle offorty-five degrees. They slid down the mountain, ages ago perhaps,to their present location. That was long before the white man cameto drink the “Wonder Water” from the near-by spring. An oak treea foot in diameter now stands in the path which the rocks took inmaking the descent to their present position. Putting the rocks inthis position was the work of Nature; to wrap them in a halo oftradition called for the ingenuity of man.

Some person who liked to have fun noticed the Sliding Rocks andstarted a custom that developed into a ritual. They became initiationstones for newlyweds as a part of the charivari ceremony. In theOzarks, newly married couples are usually “shivareed” by theirfriends. They are serenaded with bells and shotguns and other racketmaking devices and if the groom refuses to “treat” with candy andcigars, he is given an unconventional bath in the river. In some communitiesthe bride and groom are driven around town in a horse-drawnvehicle or an old jalopy.

At Eureka Springs, it became a practice to have the newlywedsslide down the perpendicular rock near the spring. It developed intoa tradition and even today honeymooners, others too, try the daringslide to prove their courage. The surface of the stone is covered withscratches made by shoe heels that dug-in during the sliding operation.The most disastrous potential about this fun-making ordeal isthe disruption of the seat of the pants.

XVI
THE SPRINGS

There are forty-two springs within the corporate limits of EurekaSprings. Most of these belong to the city and are included in themunicipal park system. A few are privately owned such as Ozarkain Mill Hollow, Congress, Lion, Carry Nation and Cold Spring onEast Mountain. Sam A. Leath has counted and named sixty-threesprings within a one-mile radius of the center of town and it is saidthat there are about 1200 springs in the Western District of CarrollCounty.

The Basin Spring, so called because of the peculiar depression inthe limestone rock, was first called the Indian Healing Spring anddiscovered by a pioneer hunter, Dr. Alvah Jackson, in 1854. It comesfrom a cave in the cliff-side and in the early days made a cataractdown the mountain to the valley floor where it joined Little LeatherwoodCreek. About one hundred feet below the cave that housesthe spring is a flat rock, now covered with a deep layer of concrete.In this rock, the Indians cut two basins, one about eighteen inchesin diameter and twelve inches deep, the other, twelve feet fartherdown, about five feet in length and ten inches deep. The largerbasin was partially destroyed by falling rock before the spring wasdiscovered by white men. The smaller basin is still in existenceat the bottom of the Wishing Well. The fountain from this springis surrounded by the Basin Circle Park with band stand, and seatsfor those who like to loiter in a restful, picturesque environment.

Sweet Spring is on Spring street around the corner from thepost office. Its original position was in the hollow about two hundredyards below its present site. When Spring Street was laid outby Powell Clayton and other city officials in the early eighties, thestream of water was tapped and a stone pit erected with steps leadingdown to the fountain. The spring itself was imprisoned in stonefor sanitary reasons. No one seems to know the origin of the nameSweet for this spring. Benches beneath the hard maple and ginkgotrees surround this spring and it is a cool spot for summer loafing.

In the early days, Harding Spring ranked next to Basin in importance.It has supplied the Palace Bath House with water forbathing for almost a half a century. It flows from a picturesquecliff on Spring Street with a rock projection called Lover’s Leap afew feet away. It is one of the most photographed spots in EurekaSprings.

Congress Spring at the rear of the Congress Spring apartments is“honey out of the rock” for those who like top quality aqua pura.It comes from a cave and is said to have been discovered by workmenwhile blasting rock on Spring Street. Standing at the spring onemay look skyward and observe a street seventy feet directly above.41The rock formation at this point is a miniature Gibraltar.

Crescent Spring, between the Carnegie Library and PresbyterianChurch, derived its name from the large crescent-shaped ledge ofrocks over which it originally flowed for a distance of fifteen feet.It is now walled in stone and sheltered with a pointed roofed pagoda.

Continuing on Spring Street, Grotto Spring “on the boulevard”is next. It has a picturesque position in the mountain side, frontedwith a lane of sycamore trees. The spring was named because ofits location in a natural stone grotto.

On East Mountain there is water almost everywhere. Some ofthe best known springs, each with its individual scenic setting, are:Cave, Little Saucer, Big Saucer, Little Eureka, Onyx, Carry Nation,Soldier and Cold. Cave spring, near the home of Mr. and Mrs. GlennWard Dresbach, flows a stream of pure cold water from a narrowcave. Little Eureka has a small stream and never goes dry. Thisspring is known for the purity of its waters (5½ grains of solids tothe gallon) and many people swear by it. It is said that Little Eurekawater won second place in a world wide contest at the St. LouisWorld’s Fair in 1904. Water from a spring in Switzerland won first.

The Carry A. Nation spring flows from a cave which the crusaderused as an “ice box” during her sojourn in Eureka Springs(1908-11). This cave has a constant temperature the year ’roundand is an ideal natural refrigerator. In the days preceding artificialrefrigeration, the East Mountain folks made use of Carry’s cave forstoring milk, butter and other perishables. The water from the cavespring has been piped across the street to Hatchet Hall, which is nowa museum and art center, owned by the artists, Mr. and Mrs. LouisFreund.

Onyx Spring comes from a cave in which onyx was once securedfor making jewelry. It was formerly called Laundry Spring becauseof its popularity as a place for washing clothes. A sarvistree now grows from the rock directly over the spring.

Soldier Spring is at the entrance of a small cave at the westend of Nut Street on East Mountain. According to legend, twobushwackers were killed at the entrance of this cave by federalsoldiers during the Civil War. A bushwacker is an outlawish fellowwho hides behind a bush and takes a “whack” at you with his riflegun. In this instance, the soldiers got the first whack and the streamfrom the cave was named Soldier Spring. For several years thelarge oak tree across the road from the spring was a natural beetree and a swarm of honey-makers occupied it each season. Notmany modern towns can boost of a bee tree within the city limits.

In Mill Hollow we have the famous Ozarka Spring, the only42Eureka Springs water that is commercialized. It is shipped in glassor enamel-lined railway cars to many cities in the mid-west. Ozarkais a liquid treasure from nature’s vast laboratory. Other springs inthe vicinity are Little Ozarka, Minnehaha with its Indian legend, andthe Bancroft Springs.

Magnetic Spring is one of the most popular springs in the city.The water was once thought to be radio-active and old-timers claimedit would magnetize a knife blade. It is a popular place for picnickersand the city has provided a shelter-house with tables, barbecue pitand other facilities. Magnetic Hollow has other springs such asMystic, which flows from a picturesque cliff, and Bell Spring whichmakes a musical sound like the tinkling of a bell. An iron andsulphur spring was once located near the railway depot, but is notnow flowing.

To the west and south of the city, within walking distance, are thefamous Oil and Johnson springs and sixteen springs that feed the citylake that supplies the municipal water system. A bathhouse oncestood under the cliff between Johnson and Oil Springs. The oil springis peculiar in that the waters have an oleaginous feeling when rubbedbetween the hands. It was once considered beneficial in diseases ofthe scalp.

Lion Spring flows from the cliff near the back door of the homeof Mr. and Mrs. Everett Wheeler, publishers of the Eureka SpringsTimes-Echo. For many years the Lion Spring Hotel, operated by“Mother” Belden, was located on this site. A stone Lion’s head is setup as a dispensary and the water flows through its mouth. Thisspring once supplied a stream of water for Dr. Alvah Jackson’s primitivebathhouse in the rock shelter fifty feet below. A wash-tub wassecured from a sugar camp on Keel’s Creek and this, with half-a-dozencanteens, constituted the outfit of the first water-cure establishmentin this part of the state.

Calip Spring is on South Main Street near the Elk’s Club. It suppliedthe community watering trough in the early days of the town.Fishermen now use this trough as a depository for minnows. GaddSpring is farther north on Main Street and is housed in a rock edificemade from crystal and other odd-shaped rocks.

In regard to the springs at Eureka, L. J. Kolklosh wrote in 1881:

“No other springs in the world have had so many cures and sucha reputation in so short a time as the Eureka Springs of Arkansas.History does not record an equal.... Eureka had made a name thathas been heard throughout Christendom.”

XVII
THE LAY OF THE TOWN

A crazy quilt is made up of pieces arranged without pattern ororder. Eureka Springs is like that. It is an architectural labyrinthunique among cities. The recently built annex of the Penn MemorialBaptist Church has a home for the minister on the third floor. Youmay enter at the street-level door on Mountain Street, walk throughthe rooms—a distance of about forty feet—and look down uponOwen Street, thirty feet below. This sounds like an architecturalfairy tale, but it is true. Houses are built like that in this Switzerlandof America. In many homes the street entrance is on the secondor third floor, or the house may be reached by a stairway clingingto the mountain side. One business house is surrounded bystreets like a moat ’round a castle and it has four street addresseseach on a different level. In the early days when the town wasthronged with health seekers who wanted homes near the springs,terraces were built and hemmed-in with massive stone walls. Houseswere constructed on these terraces with stairways leading from onelevel to the other. Frequently a natural cave opens at the backdoor.The yards and gardens have the appearance of “The Hanging Gardensof Babylon,” built by Nebuchadnezzar for his hill-loving queen. Someresidents may step from their gardens to the roof of the house whileothers must climb stairways to their patch of vegetables.

The first lawsuit in Eureka Springs, according to the old-timers,was caused by a woman who lived in one of these terraced homesites.She carelessly threw dishwater out of the backdoor and downa neighbor’s chimney, damaging the furniture.

Vance Randolph tells about a drunken farmer who was found inthe streets of the town one Saturday night. The pavement is notlevel by any means and the poor farmer was walking with one footon the sidewalk and one in the gutter. A woman came along and thefellow called on her for help. “You’re just drunk,” she told him. “Isthat it?” he said, much relieved, “My gosh, I thought maybe I wascrippled.”

Eureka Springs is laid out with 238 named streets with no directcross intersections. (One or two right-angle crossings have beenfound since Ripley featured this item in his “Believe It or Not.”) Onthe map the streets look like a bewildered maze with the letters Uand V formed fifty-one times, the letter S thirteen times, O, seventimes, and perhaps other alphabetical curiosities in this labyrinth ofstreets. There are five street levels on West Mountain from MainStreet in the valley to the Crescent Hotel on Prospect Avenue.

Many exaggerated tales have been told about this “crazy quilt”town. There is the fellow, for instance, who doesn’t need a picturewindow in his house to observe the scenery. He merely looks up the44chimney and watches his neighbor drive the cows home from the pasture.And don’t forget the well digger who was digging a well onEast Mountain. When down about forty feet the bottom of the wellfell out and he landed (on his feet) right in the middle of Main Street.They had to change their plans and dig the well up instead of downin order to strike water.

Eureka Springs has only two business thoroughfares, Main Streetin the valley from Planer Hill to the railroad station, and SpringStreet which branches off of Main at the City Auditorium and windsaround the mountain to the Crescent Hotel. Once, in the early days,a feud developed among the merchants on Main (then called MudStreet) and they built a high board fence right down the middle ofthe street. This made the traffic lanes so narrow that a wagon couldbarely squeeze through. The fence was soon removed by order ofthe city authorities. Spring Street is lined with flowing springs—Sweet,Harding, Congress, Crescent, Grotto, and Dairy on the HarmonPlaygrounds, once the site of the old auditorium. This street wasengineered by Governor Powell Clayton (they always called him“governor”) who helped dress up the town in the early eighties. Sweetspring was “moved” from the hollow behind the post office to itspresent location on the Spring Street level.

In addition to the street layouts, other believe it or nots in thecity are the Basin Park Hotel, “eight floors and every floor a groundfloor,” the St. Elizabeth’s Church, “entered through the steeple,” andPivot Rock, sixteen inches in diameter at the base and thirty-two feetacross at the top. The hotel stands against the side of the mountainwith its street level door on Spring. It is bridged from the rear topaths on the mountain side at four different levels. The “steeple” ofthe church is in reality a detached bell-tower. It is on the CrescentGrade level and steps lead down to the church which is set on a terraceheld in place by a twenty-foot wall. A rock can be tossed fromthis terrace to the roof of the Carnegie Library about one hundredfeet below on another street. The travel distance between the twolocations is about one-fourth mile.

The numerous stairways of wood and stone, connecting streetlevels, have given rise to the name, “Stairstep Town.” Cora PinkleyCall used this title for her book on Eureka Springs, published in 1953.Some of the leading stairways are: Jacob’s Ladder, Sweet Springs,Magnetic Spring Skyway, and the “upway” from Spring Street toEureka Street. Jacob’s Ladder is a series of wooden steps up EastMountain from the Main Street level to the Skydoor residential districton the mountain side. Rest stops are provided along the wayin the form of seats where the old may rest and the young, perchance,do a little courting. The Sweet Spring steps are of stone and theylead from the spring, through the tree tops, to the terminus of two45streets three hundred yards above. The Magnetic Spring stairway isat the junction of Main street with Magnetic Drive, reaching up toHillside (Depot Grade). These steps are now covered with moss andseldom used. It was once a popular walk-way from the Sanitariumon the hill to Magnetic Spring. The winding “up way” from the footof Mountain Street at the Baptist Church is a short cut to a privatehome called Mount Air. Taking this stairway reminds us of thetourist who asked a native Ozarker if he was on the right road toSpringfield. “Well, not exactly,” he replied, “This road just moseysalong for a spell, then it turns into a pig trail, then a squirrel track,and finally runs up a tree and ends in a knot-hole.” If you take thisstairway and path to the upper street, turn to the left and follow thepath around the mountain, you end up at the rear entrance to thefourth floor of the Basin Park Hotel.

Airplane View of the City

XVIII
THE STREET CAR SYSTEM

Eureka Springs at one time had the most unique street car systemin the nation. It began as a mule car line in 1891, but was electrifiedseven years later. It remained in operation until 1923 when it wascrowded out by jalopies which invaded the town. The streets werenot wide enough to accommodate both the street car and the Model T.The total length of the line was about three miles, but the two terminalsof the main line were only half a mile apart. The entire systemwas a single track with three passing switches. The track wasstandard gauge and placed near the curb at one side of the street, asthe streets were too narrow for center tracks.

John T. Brown, writing in “Trolley Sparks,” says that the CitizensRailway Company of Eureka Springs had a total of twelve cars, fiveof which were closed cars operated by one man, six two-man opencars, and one work-car which was also used as a party car. Exceptfor two of the cars, all were originally mule-drawn cars purchasedsecond hand from Houston, Texas. These cars were motorized withsecond hand electrical equipment purchased from the Detroit StreetRailways. In 1904, two new summer cars were obtained from the St.Louis Car Company.

The Daily Times-Echo in the twenty-fifth anniversary issue ofApril 24, 1905, says:

“In no other city on the continent can there be found a street railwaythat leads such a winding course around and up and down themountain-sides as does the Citizens Electric Railway of EurekaSprings. As you alight at the depot of the St. Louis and North ArkansasRailway you find a well-equipped street car there in waiting,and presently you are swung up and around the mountain side alongwhat appears to be a ledge or precipice, and to the timid, it seemsthat in each instance there is danger of the car being hurled to thevalley below. But really such a possibility is very remote, for duringall the years the line has been in operation there has never been aserious accident. To make safety doubly sure, the far-seeing managementhas had guard rails laid all along this section of the line.From the depot up the mountain side to the intersection with the mainline at the Crescent Spring, a little more than half a mile, the ascentamounts to a fraction over 101 feet, or a little more than 200 feet tothe mile. The main line, which circles around West Mountain, traversingthe most popular thorofare of the city and passing most allthe famous springs and principal institutions, is not without its gradesand wondrous curves.... At the Auditorium (now the Harmon Playgrounds),the track commences a most charming and tortuous ascent,and a feat of engineering that has challenged the admiration of many47scientific men who have visited the resort. A roadbed had to begraded around the mountain side at angles that would seem ridiculouswere it anywhere else than in this unusual mountain range. One carwill be only a few yards from and above the other, and apparentlygoing in the same direction when actually, they are headed towardopposite ends of the line. These ends, however, are only 300 yardsapart, one end resting in the valley while the other is at the mountain’speak. From the Crescent Hotel to the Auditorium there is adescent of 140 feet.

“The equipment and service on this street railway is better thancan be found in many cities of far greater population than EurekaSprings, and the entire system is a source of gratification and prideto our people. Visitors make the valley echo with their merry shoutsas they are carried around its course in the beautifully decorated andlighted trolley party cars, and the bands and orchestras of the cityare frequent participants in these festivities.”

XIX
CARRY A. NATION

Carry A. Nation was a militant voice in the “wilderness of sin”at the turn of the century. Her three hatchets, which she named“Faith, Hope and Charity,” cut deeply into the liquor industry.Not that the liquor she destroyed in her attacks on bars and saloonsamounted to a great deal, but her influence in fostering nation-wideprohibition was far reaching. She spent considerable time in jail andpaid numerous fines, but this did not lesson her enthusiasm for thecause to which she devoted her life. Carry hated liquor, tobacco,rouge, lip-stick, and immorality in all its phases. She operated underthe unwritten law which, she thought, superseded man-made legislation.Even some of the churches did not condone her radicalways and closed their doors to her. But she organized her own.

Carry married twice; first to a young fellow in Cass County,Missouri, who called himself “doctor.” He was addicted to drink andCarry could not reform him so she left him and returned to thehome of her parents. He died shortly after their baby was born.Her second marriage was to David Nation, a lawyer, newspaper man,and later, a Campbellite preacher. This marriage fared better thanthe first one but it was not a happy affair. Carry cut the swath forthe family and David had to string along as best he could.

Carry Nation’s militant crusades against the liquor traffic beganat Kiowa, Kansas about 1900. After “cleaning up” the town to hersatisfaction she turned her face toward Wichita. She met with considerableopposition in the big town and her raids landed her injail, but friends paid her out. At Topeka she used the hatchet forthe first time in her raids.

After a few years of raiding and smashing she went into chautauquato lecture on temperance. She made a speaking tour inEurope in 1908 and landed in jail in Scotland where she had to servethe full sentence. (The Scotch did not like to see their whiskeyspilled). In 1909, at the age of sixty-three, she bought a littlefarm near Alpena in Boone County, Arkansas where she spent apart of her time during the year that followed. Then she selectedEureka Springs as her retirement home and purchased a two-storyframe house on Steele Street which she named Hatchet Hall. Shedecided to start a college at Eureka Springs for the teaching oftemperance. She called it the Carry A. Nation College and erected aframe building near her home for class rooms. But the college did notlast long for in 1911, while making a temperance speech from abuggy in the street in front of the Basin Circle, she had a stroke,and died a few days later. Her body was taken to her girlhoodhome at Belton, Missouri for burial.

XX
A BANK ROBBERY THAT FAILED

On the night of September 26, 1922, five men were camped in thewoods on the hill near where the Mount Air Court is now located,well hidden from the traffic on U. S. Highway 62. Sitting around thecamp fire were Si Wilson, Marcus Hendrix, a 21-year-old Indian, aman named Cowan, and the two Price brothers, Charlie and George.They were desperate Oklahoma outlaws from the Cookson Hills, remnantsof the old Henry Starr gang. Their business at Eureka Springswas to rob the First National Bank.

Sitting around the bed of coals this September night, the outlawsdiscussed their plans. Charlie Price, the leader, did most of the talking.He outlined the plan for the robbery on the morrow at 12:05 P.M. when practically all business houses would be closed for the lunchhour. Hendrix was to remain in the car at the front of the bank,ready for a quick getaway.

“I guess you fellers know what you’re doing,” said Wilson, whohad recently joined the gang. “But don’t forget what Sam Lockardand Henry Starr said. They warned you that Eureka Springs was adeathtrap.”

Price laughed and said that it would be easy because everythingwas well planned.

“We’d better hit the hay and get some sleep,” said Charlie. “Bigday tomorrow.” As he rolled into his blankets he remembered to windhis watch. He turned the stem carefully in the darkness but fate tooka hand and a little extra pressure sent the hands around one revolutionwithout his knowledge. His faithful old watch had played atrick on him.

At exactly 11:05 A.M., mistaken by the bandits to be 12:05 P.M.,a car drove up in front of the First National Bank on Spring Street.Hendrix remained at the wheel while the four others entered thebank. The story of the robbery and its tragic aftermath has beentold in newspapers, by Horace H. Brown in Startling Detective Magazine,and by Cora Pinkley Call in her book “Eureka Springs—TheStair-Step Town.”

Members of the bank staff on duty on September 27, 1922, were:Tobe Smith, cashier, Fred Sawyer, teller, Mrs. Maude Shuman, MissLoma Sawyer and Miss Jewel Davidson. Customers in the bank whenthe robbers entered were: Sam Holland, Robert Easley, John Easleyand Luther Wilson. Others who walked in while the holdup was inprogress were: John K. Butt, Claude Arbuckle and Bob Bowman,clerk at the Basin Park Hotel.

Tobe Smith saw the four men enter the bank and when they drew50their guns he stepped on the burglar alarm which had connections atthe Bank of Eureka Springs, a block up the street, and the Basin ParkHotel, the same distance in the other direction. The robbers did notknow this but lined up the occupants of the bank, face to the wall,and proceeded to scoop up all available cash and bonds. While doingthis Charlie Price noticed the clock on the wall. The hands stood atexactly 11:10 A.M. Time had played its trick.

In the meantime the alarm had caused a furor of excitement intown, and C. E. Burson of the Bank of Eureka Springs had sent abullet from his pistol that punctured a rear tire of the bandit’s car.Young Hendrix, getting excited, started the car slowly down SpringStreet but a bullet struck him as he reached the junction with CenterStreet and he turned the car into a railing at the head of a stairway.He was captured without offering resistance.

By this time the four bandits had left the bank with the moneyin a sack, taking two of the bank employees as hostages. They knewthey would have to fight their way out and sought to escape downthe stairway by the Times-Echo office which leads to Center Street.Guns were popping and bullets flying everywhere. Si Wilson waskilled instantly, George Price died a few minutes after being takento Dr. R. H. Huntington’s hospital, Charlie Price died from his woundsa few days later.

Cowan was wounded. He and Hendrix were sentenced to termsin the state penitentiary.

Eureka Springs citizens who battled with the outlaws were: ErnieJordan, Joe McKimmey, Jess Littrell, Robert Bowman, Homer Brittanand Sam Harmon. The story of their courage in defeating thisdesperate gang without loss of a man was told in newspapers throughoutthe country. None of them were wounded except Ernie Jordanwho received a powder burn in the face. F. O. Butt, Eureka Springsattorney, was president of the First National Bank at that time. Hehad his office over the bank building. He was glad to see the sack ofmoney and bonds returned without loss. It had been dropped on theCenter Street stairway during the fight.

XXI
INSPIRATION POINT

The Ozarks is a land of dreams. Some of them succeed, somefail. Traveling through the hill country we find numerous ruins ofpartially built projects, that reveal the urge of man to build andperpetuate. “Coin” Harvey’s Pyramid at Monte Ne, the KingstonProject in Madison County, the old Chautauqua Assembly at SulphurSprings, the numerous old hotels at once-popular watering places,ghosts of a past era when the water cure was a national fad, socialand cultural colonies, the lengthened shadows of promoters or reformers,that existed for a few years and then passed into oblivion.These are monuments to dreams that failed or prospered for a seasonand then passed out.

On the other hand there are numerous active enterprises in thehills such as Ted Richmond’s Wilderness Library in Newton County,and the famed “School of the Ozarks” near Hollister, Missouri. Otherprojects have been built with broad business perspective such as thetown of Bull Shoals. Churches have been successful in establishingpermanent institutions such as the Sequoyah Assembly at Fayettevilleand the Subiaco Academy in Logan County. Some projects with morethan local interest were started by one person and completed by others.

The unique stone building called “The Castle,” located at InspirationPoint in Carroll County, on U. S. Highway 62, six miles west ofEureka Springs, was originally the dream of a Texas inventor and oilman. In the 1920’s, W. O. Mowers of Dallas selected this scenic pointas the site of a palatial country home because of its comparative isolationand the view of White River 500 feet below. Being a worldtraveler, it reminded him of scenery on the Rhine River in Germanywith which he was familiar, and he visualized the replica of an oldGerman castle. The rock used in the construction of the building wasquarried near the village of Beaver, five miles away. Each stone wascut to fit a certain place in the structure and was put together like ajigsaw puzzle. The living room was made 30 by 44 feet, with a hugefireplace at each end. Pointed rock covered the exterior, followingan Egyptian plan of architecture.

After spending about $80,000 on the project the Texas man wasunable to complete it. In 1932, the building and several hundred acresof land were purchased by Charles Reign Scoville, a noted travelingEvangelist, of the Christian Church. He completed the building andmade it a regional center for evangelism and religious training. Thisscenic spot overlooking the river and the spacious valley was a greatinspiration to the preacher-evangelist, so he named it InspirationPoint. This name has now become a permanent geographical feature.Mr. Scoville lived only a few years to enjoy his dream.

In 1938, Mrs. Scoville gave the property to Phillips University ofEnid, Oklahoma, to be a Christian center where individuals and groupsmight come for spiritual refreshment, and for study and training. Theproject has made rapid growth during the fifteen years it has beenoperated as a service institution. It now has an assembly hall anddormitories where groups may come for a day or a week, or longer.As many as 100 persons may be cared for at one time. Rev. and Mrs.George P. Rossman are directors and managers of the project.

The big attraction at the present time at Inspiration Point is theFine Arts Colony held for six weeks each summer. It is directed byProfessor Henry Hobart, of Phillips University, and provides instructionin music (piano, organ, voice, theory, band and orchestra instruments),drama, speech and painting. The opera workshop produces alight opera each summer, which is taken on tour after having beenproduced locally.

Groups begin coming to Inspiration Point in April and continueuntil November. Tourists are welcome at the Castle at all times ofthe year and they come by the thousands to see its unique constructionand to view the articles of antique and historical interest left byMr. and Mrs. Scoville. The view of the White River Valley from “ThePoint,” which includes the ranch of Dr. and Mrs. Ross Van Pelt, is oneof the finest in America.

The Castle at Inspiration Point

XXII
DISTINGUISHED VISITORS

Eureka Springs has had many distinguished visitors during itsseventy-five years of history. Some of them made only brief visitsto our scenic city while others spent several weeks and returned fromyear to year. One of them who thought of Eureka Springs as anearthly paradise was the chewing gum king, William Wrigley, Jr.

Mr. Wrigley first visited Eureka Springs in 1902 and put up atthe Thatch Hotel where he spent most of the winter. He returned inthe autumn of 1903 and spent about three months at the ChautauquaHotel, later moving to a cottage on Linwood Avenue. It has beensaid that no greater admirer of scenic beauty ever came to the Ozarksthan William Wrigley.

His greatest pleasure was to get out on the trails on horsebackwith Sam Leath, then acting as guide in charge of the Eureka SpringsBureau of Information and the Crescent stables. A canyon five mileswest of the city was named after him for this was one of the spots heespecially enjoyed.

The chewing gum king, whose net income was $1,125,000 in 1904,took a liking to Eureka Springs and proposed to buy all the land withina radius of three miles of the city and make it into a public parkif the city authorities would agree to keep it policed and free fromjunk and garbage. The hills and valleys were then covered with vastgrowths of virgin timber which Mr. Wrigley wished to preserve. Butthe city government turned him down and he went to Catalina Island,off the California coast, where he spent millions in development.Many noted writers such as Zane Grey and Mary Roberts Rhinehartlocated on the island as a result of his project.

Another famous visitor was the landscape artist, F. S. VanNesswho came to Eureka Springs from Chicago in October, 1902. SamLeath took him on twenty-eight rides within two weeks, observingthe splendor of the Flaming Fall Revue, but the artist did not painta single picture. When Mr. Leath asked him why he did not painthe replied that the color was beyond his reach; that it would be aninsult to the Creator to try to put it on canvas. Later, after the colorhad faded, he returned to the Ozarks and Mr. Leath guided him overthe same route. This time he painted profusely, both landscapes anditems of human interest. Two of his paintings may be seen today inthe lobby of the Basin Park Hotel. One portrays a group of gamblersseated around a table, the other is that of old Dr. Messick on hisburro which was painted in November, 1902. Dr. Messick was a retiredChicago doctor who “went native” and spent his last days livingand practicing medicine in the hills near Eureka Springs.

XXIII
HOG SCALD

Hog Scald, ten miles south of Eureka Springs is an undiscoveredcountry, so far as tourists are concerned, but for riches of traditionand excellence of scenic beauty it cannot be surpassed in the Ozarkhighlands. It is a land of clear, gushing springs, laughing brooks andtumbling waterfalls; water everywhere, spilling over rocky ledges andtwisting happily through granite-lined canyons. It is a land of massiveoak, stately pine and verdant cedar, of purple grapes that clingto broad leafed vines and red berries that tinge the cheeks of the hillswith romantic blushes. It seems a land of divine favor and it is indeedfitting that the early pioneers of the thirties and forties foundhere, in a temple not built with hands, the ideal place to worship God.Under a giant ledge overlooking Hog Scald creek they held worshipfor more than three-quarters of a century.

The sturdy people who trekked into these hills from Kentuckyand Tennessee were the salt of the earth in character. And like theirPuritan and Cavalier sires, they did not forget to give thanks to Godfor the Promised Land of the Ozarks. The visitor who loiters for aseason in this Eden of beauty will realize, a little, the influence ofsuch an environment upon these sturdy pioneers who had their feetdeeply set in the soil of mediocrity, so far as learning is concerned,but who saw the thumb prints of God in every work of nature.

The spacious natural shelter below Auger Falls on Hog Scaldcreek attracted these settlers as a suitable place to hold religious services.Here was an auditorium on one side of the stream with pulpitof rock for the minister, and choir stalls for the singers, in a convenientshelter opposite.

Between audience and minister was the immersion pool where therites of baptism could be administered without leaving the sanctuary.The drone of falling water from Auger Falls was just loud enough tobe the grand piano divine, never out of tune, always doing its part tomake the service effective. When the minister prayed, these musicalwaters seemed to echo, “Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to thewaters, and he that hath no money, come ye and buy and eat—withoutmoney and without price.”

In later years Hog Scald became an active community center. Itwas a meeting place of the settlers for such activities as butcheringhogs, canning wild fruits and making sorghum molasses. The ideaoriginated during the Civil War when the entire valley was a Confederatecamp. The inviting springs and cozy shelters made it an idealcamp site. The shut-ins at the elbow of the falls now called FernDell offered opportunity to hem in herds of wild hogs and kill themin a cove convenient to the butchering grounds.

Hog Scald creek secured its name from the practice of soldiersin scalding the wild hogs in the kettle-like holes in the rocky creekbed. The water was diverted from its regular course into these holes,which are four or five feet deep and averaging six feet in width. Themethod of heating the water to the scalding point was done by droppinghot stones into the pits. The hogs were then immersed in thehot water until their hides were soaked sufficiently for the removalof the hair with a knife.

When the war ended, natives of the community continued thispractice and enlarged upon it. Families would drive many milesthrough the hills to camp at Hog Scald, butchering hogs, canningwild fruits, and enjoying a few days of social contact. And alwaysthere was church on Sunday. The young folks might play partygames on the rocks Saturday night, but the fun ceased at midnight.Sunday was set aside for the good things of the soul.

It has been said that the mills of the gods grind slowly, but theresults of grinding are sure. The customs of these sturdy pioneers ofthe Ozark hills have borne fruit in a sober, righteous and contentedpeople. Who can doubt the influence of this quaint sanctuary ofnature in the lives of these hillfolks?[20]

A number of tall tales have been told about Hog Scald. An old-timertold Vance Randolph that he lived near there in the early1880’s. He said that there used to be a bramble thicket near the potholes,where the road is now. “We used to get the water good andhot,” he explained, “An’ throw the hogs in alive. They’d jump out a-squealin’,an’ run right through them bramble bushes. The thornswould take the bristles off slicker’n a whistle, so we didn’t have toscrape ’em at all.”

Another tale about Hog Scald was told to me recently. It is saidto have happened about the turn of the century. The lay of the landis pretty rugged in the Hog Scald neighborhood and one farmer hadplanted corn and pumpkins on a steep hillside above the hollow. Hesaid he did the planting with a shotgun, shooting the seeds into thehillside. About the time the planting was completed one of the farmer’sbrood sows wandered away and he didn’t see her all that summer.When it came time to harvest the crop that fall, the farmerclimbed the hill, holding on to the corn stalks and pumpkin vines tokeep from falling. The pumpkins were so big that it took only abouta dozen to cover an acre. In pulling himself up, he accidentally torea pumpkin loose from its bearings and it started rolling down thehill. At the foot of the hill it hit a low ledge of rock and burst open.Much to the farmer’s surprise, out jumped the lost sow and thirteenpigs.

I was telling that story down in the Basin Circle Park at Eureka56Springs one day. When I got through one of the old-timers asked meif I had ever heard of the big kettle the blacksmiths built at EurekaSprings in the year 1901. I told him that I had never heard of it.“Well,” he said, “it was some kettle. It was so big that the menworking on one side couldn’t hear the men hammering on the oppositeside.” I pretended to be astonished and asked him what on earththey wanted with such a big kettle. “Why,” he said, solemn like, “tostew them Hog Scald pumpkins in.”

Stafford Photo
Hog Scald Falls below the pits where the pioneers did the scalding

XXIV
BOUNTIES OF NATURE

“Never have I found a place, or a season, without beauty,” wrotethe poet, Charles Erskine Scott Wood.

The scenic charm of Eureka Springs is a challenge to the poet’spen and the artist’s brush. Each season has its own style of beautythat helps erase monotony from man’s benighted world. Spring comeswith myriad flowers. The lilac and the honey suckle spill their perfumeslavishly on the hill and in the valley. Early summer spreads acarpet of sweet peas that have escaped from gardens in years past.A little later the white clematis appears and wraps the whole townin beauty. Hundreds of varieties of flowers, reflecting all the variedhues of Nature’s prism, are here from early March until late November.

The tree lover in Eureka Springs has a wealth of beauty for hisenjoyment. The elms and maples are the first heralds of spring tocoax the bees into action and open Nature’s wooing season. Thencomes the sarvis, wild plum, redbud, and dogwood to add perfume andcolor to the fantasia of spring. In early May the long, purple, bell-shapedflowers of the Paulownia trees hang from bare branches.

The Paulownia or Princess tree is a native of Russia and namedfor the Princess Paulownia, daughter of the Czar, Paul I, who died in1801. Its fruit is a green pod as large as a walnut which ripens inautumn and bursts open in winter to loosen the feathery seeds for thewind’s dispersal. The broken pods cling to the tree until pushed offby new growths the following season.

The Ginkgo is one of our rarest trees. We have four of them inEureka Springs, three on the Post Office grounds and one, a “female”tree producing fruit, on the property adjacent to the Sweet Springpark. This tree, of Chinese origin, is said to be the oldest tree in history.Botanists tell us that the fern is older than the tree. TheGinkgo with its fern-like leaves appears to be a link between thetwo. The fruit matures in late summer and has an offensive odor.The seed is bitter, but it is said that the Chinese roast them as wedo peanuts and use them for food.

Other interesting trees in Eureka Springs are the tulip with itscolorful bloom in May, the catalpas that flower in June, the magnoliaand holly which retain their green leaves throughout the year,the cedar and pine, the mulberry with its artistic leaf, a buckeye ortwo, a lone fir on the Annie House property, a “smoke tree” at “theLittle House Around the Corner,” and a dozen varieties of oaks. Theblack gum and hard maple wear gorgeous colors in the “Flaming FallRevue” and have a high rating of popularity.

XXV
“UPS AND DOWNS”

Geographically, Eureka Springs is an “up and down” town.There are no level spots in the down-town area large enough for abaseball diamond or a circus tent. This problem has been solved,however, by bulldozing off the top of a mountain at the edge of townand building a stadium. We can now play the great American gameand hope for the visitation of a circus.

The town has had its share of economic problems which it hasmanaged to solve satisfactorily. It has been temporarily down, butnever out. One of the first blows to the local economy of the townwas the removal of the railroad shops in 1911. This stopped an importantpay roll which the town needed to balance its economy. Noother industries have been developed to take its place.

For a number of years Eureka Springs was the outstanding wateringplace, not only in Arkansas, but throughout the entire midwest,but after the turn of the century other resorts became prominentand offered stiff competition. New scientific discoveries forcombatting disease influenced the attitude of the people toward wateras a cure-all and many health resorts folded-up as a result of thispolicy. Eureka Springs held on tenaciously but found it necessaryto stress recreation along with health in order to survive. As a combinedhealth and pleasure resort it weathered the depression althoughbusiness was at low ebb for a number of years. Houses were torndown and the lumber shipped to western Kansas and other sectionsof the country. Crescent College closed its doors in the early thirtiesand a few years later the Crescent Hotel was discontinued. Thebuilding was bought by Norman Baker in the late thirties and openedas a hospital. But this institution ran into difficulties and was closedtwo or three years later. The Crescent, which had been opened as ahotel in 1886, remained closed during World War II but in 1945 Chicagobusiness men bought the property and remodeled the building.It opened as a hotel with Dwight Nichols as manager in June, 1946.It is now one of the town’s greatest assets.

Eureka Springs had a mild boom at the close of the war. Home-seekerspoured in, bought homes, entered into business or went intoretirement. A number of motels and other business enterprises werebuilt and a community began a new epoch as a resort. The populationincreased from a depression low of about 1,700 to around 3,000in 1954, counting the suburban areas. Civic improvements includedpaving the streets, the voting of bonds for revamping the sewer system,the sinking of a deep well to secure an adequate water supply,and the erection of an ultra modern public school building. Several59of the churches of the town have repaired their buildings, or builtnew additions, and improved their facilities. Business buildings havebeen enlarged and improved and many new homes built. The touristseason now opens in April and continues until November with a fewwinter visitors. It is estimated that about 150,000 tourists visit EurekaSprings during the year. Some make only brief stops, others staytwo or three weeks for rest and recreation.

Eureka Springs has become a popular retirement city and thepeople of this class add substantially to the town’s economy, but thebulk of the revenue is from the tourist trade. Since this business isseasonable, a few small industries are needed to provide pay rollsand help balance the economy. Writers, artists and craftsmen findthis the ideal location for their activities.

Eureka Springs has had its ups and downs through the years witha leveling off toward normalcy since the mild boom following thewar. With Table Rock Dam on White River assured, and Beaver Damfarther up the stream a possibility, the outlook for the future is bright.The town will continue as a combined health and pleasure resort, anart and retirement center, a literary mecca, and a haven for hobbiests.It is developing a festival atmosphere which has the earmarks ofpermanency.

Modern public school building erected at Eureka Springs in 1951.

XXVI
THE STORY OF BLUE SPRING

I came, I saw, I concurred that Blue Spring is one of MotherNature’s miracles. It was a quarter of a century ago when I first visitedthis lovely spot, located seven miles northwest of Eureka Springs.Since that time I have been a frequent visitor to this liquid giantfrom the unknown.

Blue Spring is the outlet of a subterranean river with a constantflow of about 38,000,000 gallons of pure water daily. It rises straightup from its mysterious bed, forming a circle about seventy feet indiameter. The depth is unknown. Soundings have been made, oncein the nineties, the old-timers say, with strong bed cord attached to a125 pound anvil, and again near the turn of the century by a party ofengineers who let a 16 pound hammer down 512 feet. Neither weightreached bottom. The pressure of the water was sufficient to defypenetration into the blue depths.

The water taken from this spring is clear, white and transparentas plate glass, but the water in the spring is blue in appearance.Sometimes it is almost indigo in hue, but when taken out of the springis white and transparent. A geologist who tested the water recentlyexpressed the opinion that it is glacial water similar to that of LakeLouise in the Pacific Northwest. It was the opinion of some of theold-timers who lived near the spring that the water came from KingsRiver twenty miles to the east. When this stream was on the rise,the spring had increased flow, so they said.

Many legends have been handed down about this famous spring.One of them is that Spanish adventurers who supposedly invaded theOzark country in the latter part of the eighteenth century, sunk amine shaft at the present location of Blue Spring. They walled theshaft with logs. Several hundred feet down they struck an undergroundriver and a geyser-like eruption occurred. Then it settleddown and became a peaceful river with the old mine shaft as an outlet.The pioneer English settlers named it Blue Spring because ofthe blueness of the water.

This spring was once the site of an Indian encampment, accordingto Sam A. Leath who is an authority on Indian lore in the Ozarks.The cliffs had hieroglyphics to tell the story, but most of them havebeen erased by the hand of time. Numerous arrow heads and Indianrelics have been found in the vicinity. The historic “Trail of Tears”over which the Cherokees trekked, passed near Blue Spring.

The pioneers saw economic possibilities in this vast flow of waterand built a dam a few hundred yards below the spring near wherethe spring branch enters White River. A flouring and saw mill, operatedby a turbine, was built on that spot. But the mill is now goneand only the turbine remains. Plans were once made to pipe the61water to the railroad some three miles away and ship it for drinkingpurposes. No analysis of the water is available, but it is said to besoft and pure.

The dam below the spring forms a moss-lined lagoon that is a pictureout of the book. Rainbow trout sport in the crystal water totest the angler who tempts them with his lure.

Blue Spring with its 400 acres of enchanted woodlands in a horseshoebend of White River is owned and operated by Mrs. Evan Booth,formerly of Chicago. She lives in a picturesque modern cottage overlookingthe spring and lagoon and keeps the project open the yeararound as a tourist attraction.

XXVII
SCENIC ATTRACTIONS

One of the great attractions of Eureka Springs as a tourist resortis its scenery. In both the city and the adjacent countryside we havefolds of hills that please the eye of the observer and captivate hisfancy. “I will look unto the hills from whence cometh my help.”The hills and hollows of the Western District of Carroll County havebeen a lure for tourists for three-quarters of a century. Combinedwith the springs of pure water, this scenery is perhaps our greatestasset. No where in the Ozarks do the hills lift their flinty shouldersto the sky in more picturesque form than in the vicinity of EurekaSprings.

This region is traversed by two crystal rivers, the White and theKings, and numerous smaller spring-fed streams. It is interesting toknow these streams and visualize their scenic attributes on the calendarof the year.

The Eureka Springs country has many scenic oddities. PivotRock, two miles north of town, is a natural curiosity, featured inRipley’s “Believe It or Not.” It stands 15 feet high, is 30 feet in diameterat the top, and has a stem or base that measures about 16inches. Nearby is a Natural Bridge, small but perfectly formed.

In the Hog Scald country, ten miles south of Eureka Springs, andPenitentiary Hollow, a few miles beyond, there are 16 beautiful waterfalls,several of which are not seen by tourists because of theirisolated location. Jim Oliver’s Revilo Ranch south of town is a beautyspot in the sheltered hills which tourists enjoy. “The Narrows” andthe village of Beaver on White River provide views that are worthgoing to see.

Inspiration Point, six miles west on U. S. 62, is one of the mostscenic views in the Ozarks. Other views along the Skyline Drivehave similar attraction. Blue Spring, a mile from the Point, is abeauty spot that almost defies the pen of man to describe it. OnyxCave is a must for the tourist who enjoys subterranean scenery. Itis located 7 miles northeast of Eureka Springs and is open all year.

The town of Eureka Springs itself is a scenic attraction that nevergrows old. The views from East Mountain, Trail’s End and the topof the Crescent Hotel on West Mountain all help add to the town’sreputation as the “Switzerland of America.”

XXVIII
THE BASIN PARK HOTEL

The Daily Times-Echo of Eureka Springs on April 24, 1905,carried the following announcement:

“The first grand opening of the Basin Park Hotel, now nearingcompletion, will take place July 1, and the event promises to be oneof the grandest in the history of Eureka Springs. T. J. Brumfield,under whose management the Hotel Wadsworth has been so successful,and who has earned the reputation of being one of the bestcaterers in the South, has been selected as manager for this splendidhostelry, which is an assurance of a large patronage.

“This grand structure was built by W. M. Duncan and his associates,and contains one hundred guest rooms in addition to spaciousparlors and dens.... The hotel will be conducted strictly on theEuropean plan, in connection with a first-class cafe on the secondfloor, occupying the entire depth of the north end of the buildingon this floor.... A special feature and a most attractive one is thefeasible plan of easy fire escapes, as from each story to the BasinPark reservation, back of the hotel, iron bridges will be built so thatin case of fire the entire house, were it crowded, could be emptiedin three minutes. There is complete fire protection throughout thebuilding, although it is practically fire-proof.... The cost of thishotel in its entirety, including furnishings, will exceed $50,000....”

The grand opening mentioned above took place July 1, 1905,forty-nine years ago and the hotel has been in continuous operationsince that date. If it were built today it would cost several times asmuch as it did half a century ago.

The Basin Park occupies a central position in the down-townsection of Eureka Springs and is adjacent to the Basin Circle Parkwhich contains the famous Basin Spring. The structure has beenfeatured in Ripley’s “Believe It or Not” as “An eight story hotel withevery floor a ground floor.” Bridge-walks at the rear of the buildinglead to the Basin Park Reservation, a wooded tract owned by thecity and originally containing twenty-eight acres. The top floorcontains the popular Roof Garden and Ball Room. The hotel isstrictly modern throughout with automatic elevator and bath facilities.

The Basin Park changed ownership several times in the half-century,but the man most closely associated with its operationthrough the years is Claude A. Fuller, attorney and former mayorand congressman. The hotel was owned and managed by Joe Parkhill,nephew of Mr. Fuller, from 1945 to 1954. Early this year itwas purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Pat Mathews. Mrs. Mathews isthe former Dorothy Fuller, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Fuller.The Mathews have added new furnishings and made other improvementssince assuming management.

XXIX
THE CRESCENT

Although upon a summer day,

You’ll lightly turn from me away,

When autumn leaves are scattered wide,

You’ll often linger by my side.

But when the snow the earth doth cover,

Then you will be my ardent lover.

This homely verse, carved in stone above the fireplace in thespacious lobby of the Crescent Hotel, is a reminder that comfort isan outstanding feature in a hotel. In this “Castle in the Air HighAtop the Ozarks” we find comfort combined with convenience in abig way. This magnificent hostelry requires but little introductionto people familiar with Summer Resorts. It stands on a high pointoverlooking Eureka Springs and the view from the Lookout, a-topthe hotel, is one of the finest in the Ozarks. The Crescent is a fivestory stone, fire-proof building with twenty-seven acres of grounds.It represents an investment of over $300,000 in 1884-1886 and wouldcost three or four times that amount to build it today. It has largerooms, wide verandas, and sun parlors and can easily accommodatetwo hundred and fifty guests. It is equipped with swimming pool,tennis courts, shuffle board, horseshoe courts, bowling alley, pool andbilliard tables, recreational rooms, and provides scenic bus trips,horseback riding, hay-rides, barbecues, wiener roasts, and dancingfor the entertainment of guests. The food served in the dining roomhas been famous for more than half a century. The Crescent ispopular with both convention groups and the general public.

The Crescent Hotel was erected by the Eureka ImprovementCompany in 1884-1886. The board of directors was composed ofPowell Clayton, R. C. Kerens, C. W. Rogers, Logan H. Roots, JohnO’Day, James Dunn, B. Baker and D. A. Nichols. Powell Claytonwas president of the company, Logan H. Roots, treasurer and H.Foote, secretary. Isaac S. Taylor was the architect. It had itsgrand opening May 1, 1886. In 1902 when the Frisco Railroad tookit over it was remodeled with Guy Crandall Morimer as architect.

Some of the board of directors of the Crescent Hotel Companywere stockholders in the Frisco Railroad and it was probably throughtheir influence that the Frisco leased the hotel in 1902 for a period offive years. One of the conditions of the lease was that at least$50,000 be spent on furnishings and improvements. This was doneand the hotel was widely advertised by the railroad company.

During the first twenty-two years of its existence, the Crescentwas operated as a year-round hotel but in 1908 the Crescent Collegefor girls was organized and the building became a school from Septemberuntil June and continued as a hotel during the three summermonths. A. S. Maddox was the first president of the college. R. R.(Dick) Thompson became president in 1910 and continued in thiscapacity until the middle twenties. The institution was then takenover by Claude Fuller, Albert Ingalls and W. T. Patterson and operatedfor a few years. A. Q. Burns became president of the college in1929 and served for three or four years. The college was closed permanentlyin 1933.

In 1936 the property was sold to Norman Baker who turned itinto a hospital. This institution lasted about two years and whenit folded up the building remained vacant until 1946. In the springof that year it was bought by four Chicago men—John R. Constantine,Herbert E. Shutter, Herbert A. Byfield, and Dwight Nichols.It was reopened July 4, 1946 with Mr. Nichols as manager.

The Crescent Hotel now specializes in “package tours” fromChicago and other cities and remains open from April 1 to December1. It is again associated with the Frisco Railroad for most of theguests come to Monett, Missouri by train and are transported byCrescent buses through the scenic hills to Eureka Springs. The regular“package” tour is of six days duration and provides room,meals and entertainment.

We wonder why this hotel was named “The Crescent.” Theword, crescent, refers to the shape of the increasing or new moonwhen it is receding from the sun. It is often used as an emblemof progress and success. The symbol was popular in heraldry andwas used by at least three orders of knighthood, first instituted byCharles I of Naples and Sicily in 1268; the second instituted at Angiersby Rene of Anjou in 1464; the third instituted by Selim, Sultanof Turkey in 1801 in honor of Lord Nelson. It is both a religious andmilitary emblem of the Ottoman Turks. In architecture, the wordrefers to a range of buildings in the form of a crescent or half-moon.Some of the stone work of the Crescent Hotel is in the form of acrescent and this may have given the building its name. Personally,we like to think of it as an emblem of progress and success in thehotel world.

XXX
HOTEL HISTORY

Eureka Springs entertains 150,000 or more tourists annually andit has need of numerous hotels, motels and courts to provide adequatehousing for these guests. During its seventy-five years as a resort,it has had more than 100 establishments of this class. One of the firstof these hotels was the St. Charles on North Main Street, opened byPowell Clayton in 1882. It was first called the Clayton House. TheGrand Central was opened in 1883. Two years (1884-1886) werespent in building the Crescent which opened May 1, 1886. The Palaceopened in May, 1901. The Wadsworth was dedicated February 14,1902. The name was changed to The Allred a few years later. In1949 it was purchased by Cecil Maberry and renamed The Springs.In August, 1954, it was purchased by Gale Reeves and many improvementsmade. The Basin Park Hotel was opened for guests May5, 1905 and had its “grand opening” July 1. The site was formerlyoccupied by the Perry House, which was destroyed in the big fire of1888. The building that housed the Lansing Hotel (Carthage House)still stand on Center Street. The Landaker is another of the olderhotels now used as an apartment house. The Southern, just south ofthe Basin Circle, was destroyed by fire in 1935. The Thach, popularwith Texans, was destroyed by fire in 1932. The Belden at Lion Springwas once a popular hotel.

Other hotels and boarding houses that once served the public,are: The Antlers, Barretts, Baker House, Crim House, Calef, Calohan,Corrs, Callender, Chautauqua, Crescent Cottage, Dieu, Davey, Drains,Dell Mont, Glenwood, Gable, Guffey’s, The Gables, Holman, Hanco*ck,Harvey House, Hodges, Illinois, Josephine, Kimberlings, Lindell,Lawrence, Main, Mountain Home, Maplewood, Magnetic, NewNational, New St. Louis, Phoenix, Piedmont, Pickards, Pence, Reynolds,Sweet Spring, Sweet Springs Home, Sweet Spring Flats, Silver,Swankey, Sawyer, St. Louis, Tulsa, Tweely’s, Valley, Vestal Cottage,White Elephant, Wards, Williams Cottage, Washington and Waverly.

Eureka Springs visitors now have choice of hotels (Europeanor American plan) or motels and motor courts. A big percentage ofour tourists patronize the motels and courts of which there are twentyor more in Eureka Springs and vicinity. They range all the wayfrom comfortable modern cabins to deluxe motels and resorts whichare the last word in comfort and convenience. Most of them areconveniently located on U. S. Highway 62.

XXXI
“BACKWOODS BARON”

In my opinion, the man most closely associated with EurekaSprings in a business and political way during the past half centuryis the Hon. Claude A. Fuller. He has always had the interests of hishometown at heart and his leadership is outstanding. Born in Springhill,Illinois January 20, 1876, he came westward with his parentswhen a young lad and, at the age of fifteen, settled at Eureka Springs.His first job was with pick and shovel at Sanitarium Lake, now LakeLucerne. When the street car line was constructed from the Auditorium(now Harmon Playgrounds) to the Basin Spring, he was employedas waterboy. He carried all the spikes that coupled the rails.Upon completion of the line he became mule driver, then conductor.Later he was the attorney for the road.

Claude attended the Eureka Springs High School and graduatedin the class of 1896. He decided upon law as his profession, attendedthe Kent Law School at Chicago and was admitted to the bar in 1898.On December 25, 1899, he married Miss May Obenshain, his hometownsweetheart. The Fullers have had three children; a son whodied in infancy, and two daughters, Ruth Marie (Mrs. John S. Cross),and Dorothy M. (Mrs. Pat Mathews). They have five grandchildren.

Mr. Fuller began his official career as city clerk at Eureka Springsin 1898 and served four years. He was then elected state representativefor Carroll County and served from 1902 to 1906. In 1907, hewas elected mayor of Eureka Springs by a handsome majority. Heserved in this capacity until 1910, and again from 1920 until 1928.During his terms of office many improvements were made in the citysuch as the building of the municipal auditorium, the extending ofthe dam at the city reservoir, the erection of filter basins, and theextension of water and sewer mains. He served four years as prosecutingattorney (1910-1914).

During all these years, Mr. Fuller was ambitious to represent hisdistrict in Congress. He tried in 1914, but was defeated by a smallmargin. In 1928 he was successful and served ten years as Congressman.He was a member of the Ways and Means Committee which isone of the powerful committees of the House. Through his effortsLake Leatherwood was built as a government project. In 1938 hereturned to his private practice of law at Eureka Springs and haskept his office open ever since. He is one of the best known attorneysin Arkansas.

Claude A. Fuller’s rise in the business world was rapid. He wasa good trader and knew how to invest his money. He and his brotherpurchased the Eureka Springs Railway which they held for one yearand sold for a profit of $10,000. In 1925, he purchased the CrescentHotel which he held for four years and sold. In 1926 he became ownerof the Basin Park Hotel but sold it when he went to Congress.In the banking business, he became president of the Bank of EurekaSprings, a position he still holds. His pet project is his ranch onWhite River where he raises thorobred white face cattle. Mr. Fulleris a member of the Baptist Church, belongs to the Elks Fraternity,and is an active Rotarian.

In 1951, Frank L. Beals published a biography of Claude Fullerentitled, “Backwood’s Baron.” Mr. Beals said: “In Claude’s realisticapproach to life, the law, and politics go hand in hand. He neveraspired to purify any of the three, he just took them as he foundthem and bent them to his own purposes. He never swam against thecurrent, he floated with it, taking advantage of the flotsam and jetsamthat were going his way to make secure his own passage.”

Mr. Fuller has received many honors during his long, eventfullife. One that he is especially proud of is the Distinguished CitizenshipAward presented to him by the Eureka Springs Chamber ofCommerce on March 31, 1951, in recognition of his efficient serviceas a director of the organization. The award is signed by the AwardsCommittee: Harry Wilk, Dwight O. Nichols, Joe A. Morris, PaulSmart, Cecil Maberry and Richard Thompson.

At the end of the book, “Backwood’s Baron,” Mr. Beals says:“Oliver Wendell Holmes (Jr.) in a radio address on his ninetiethbirthday, might well have been speaking of Claude Albert Fullerwhen he said:

‘The riders in a race do not stop short when they reach the goal.There is a little finishing canter before coming to a standstill. Thereis time to hear the kind voice of friends and to say to one’s self, ‘Thywork is done.’ But just as one says that, the answer comes: ‘The raceis over, but the work never is done while the power to work remains.’The canter that brings you to a standstill need not be only comingto rest. It cannot be, while you still live. For to live is to function.That is all there is in living.’”

XXXII
WRITERS AND ARTISTS’ MECCA

Eureka Springs probably has more writers than any other townof its size in the nation. Since World War II an astonishing numberof books have been authored by residents of the “Stair-Step-Town.”Some of these writers have been producing novels, short stories,feature articles and poetry for a quarter of a century; others haveappeared only recently on the literary horizon.

Vance Randolph, Ozark folklorist, is the author of fifteen majorbooks and hundreds of pamphlets and feature articles. His bookson the Ozarks, as listed in “Who’s Who in America,” are “The Ozarks:An American Survival of Primitive Society” (1931); “Ozark MountainFolks” (1932); “From an Ozark Holler” (1933); “Ozark Outdoors”(1934); “The Camp on Wildcat Creek” (1934); “The Camp-MeetingMurders” (with Nancy Clemons) (1936); “An Ozark Anthology”(1940); “Ozark Folksongs” in four volumes (1946-50); “OzarkSuperstitions” (1947); “We Always Lie to Strangers” (1951); “WhoBlowed Up the Churchhouse” (1952); “Down in the Holler: A Galleryof Ozark Folk Speech” (1935).

Glenn Ward Dresbach is recognized as one of America’s leadingpoets. He has produced a number of books and contributed to leadingnational magazines for a number of years. His latest book:“Collected Poems, 1912-1948,” was published in 1950. Beverley Githens(Mrs. Glenn Ward Dresbach) writes both poetry and prose. Her“No Splendor Perishes” won the Dierkes Poetry award in 1946.

Major Frank L. Beals is author of “The Ancient Name” (1937);“Look Away Dixieland,” a novel (1937); The American AdventureSeries of books (1941-45); “Boswell in Chicago” (1946); The FamousStory Series (1946-50); “Backwoods Baron” (1951).

Marge Lyon has produced four books on Arkansas and the Ozarks.They are: “Take to the Hills” (1942); “And the Green Grass GrowsAll Round” (1943); “Fresh from the Hills” (1945); “Hurrah for Arkansas”(1947). Her “And So to Bedlam” (1944) is set in Chicago.Mrs. Lyon has a column entitled “Marge of Sunrise Mountain Farm”in the Sunday Chicago Tribune.

Everett and Olga Webber, a husband and wife writer-team, haveauthored two novels: “Rampart Street” (1948) and “Bound Girl”(1949). “Rampart Street” sold more than a million copies in alleditions. The Webbers contribute short stories to a number of magazines,including the Saturday Evening Post. We expect a new bookfrom them soon.

Frances Donovan, retired school teacher from Chicago, writes onsociological subjects. Her books are: “The Sales Lady” (1929); “TheSchool Ma’am” (1938) and “The Woman Who Waits.” At the present70time she is working on a sociological study of Eureka Springs.

Cora Pinkley Call is author of “Pioneer Tales of Eureka Springs”(1930); “Shifting Sands” (1943); “The Dream Garden” (1944); “FromMy Ozark Cupboard” (1950); “Eureka Springs: Stair-Step Town”(1952). Mrs. Call is president of the Ozark Artists and Writers Guild.

Constance Wagner is a short story writer and novelist. Her latestnovel, “Sycamore,” came from the press in 1950. Dr. Bonnie LelaCrump writes feature stories and has published a number of booklets.Morris Hull specializes on confession and human interest stories andcontributes to the leading magazines in this field. He is the authorof the novel, “Cannery Annie,” published several years ago. BillDierkes of the Dierkes Press is author of three books of poetry: “GoldNuggets,” (1928); “The Man from Vermont,” (1935); and “Emergewith the Swallow,” (1944).

I began writing about the Ozarks in 1925 and have written andpublished about one million words on the history and folklore of theregion. My books, to date, are: “An Ozarker Looks at Life,” (1927);“Dream Dust,” (1924); “Roadside Chats,” (1939); and “Ozark Country”of the American Folkways Series (1941). Most of my writinghas been for magazines and newspapers and for my own Ozarkianpublications: “Ozark Life,” (1925-30), “Arcadian Magazine,” (1931-32),“Arcadian Life Magazine,” (1933-42), and “Rayburn’s OzarkGuide,” (1942 to the present time).

In addition to the authors who have produced books, there area score or more of writers in Eureka Springs who write for magazinesand newspapers. Some of them are professionals, others writefor their own pleasure. If all the stories, articles and poems producedin this town were assembled into books and placed alongsidethe volumes already published, it would make a sizeable library. Notmany communities can boast of such a literary output.

Eureka Springs has been a mecca for artists for many years.Several years ago, Louis and Elsie Freund bought Hatchet Hall, theold home of Carry A. Nation, and made it into an art center. Forseveral years they conducted a summer art school. Other EurekaSprings artists, whose works I have observed are: William Farnum,Fred Swedlun, Glenn Swedlun, Lester M. Exley, W. F. Von Telligan,Mr. and Mrs. L. V. Orsinger, Verne Stanley, Virginia Tyler, ArtFoster and Bonnie Lela Crump. I am sure there are others who deservemention but I have not seen their work. Most of the aboveare professional artists who work with oils and water colors. Some dopen sketches. Thousands of paintings and drawings have been madeof the scenery and quaintness of Eureka Springs during its seventy-fiveyears of history. If all of these creative products could be placedon exhibition at one time it would make a row of pictures miles long.

XXXIII
THE OLD AND THE NEW

Time marches on and not many of the men and women of thepioneer eighties are with us today. Among those who are nativeborn or who came in their youth when the town was a booming spaare: Mrs. Annie House, Jim Bradley, Mrs. Fred West, Mrs. Wilma JarrettEllis, Mrs. C. A. Fuller, Mrs. Louis Haneke, Mrs. May S. Miller,Mrs. Chrystal Lyle, Wallace McQuerry, Otis McGinnis, Joe Hoskins,Mr. and Mrs. Joe Porch, Sam Riley, E. A. Jordan, Tom Walker, WalterBurris, T. L. Hawley, Mrs. Claude Pike, Charlie Perry, Mrs. MaudWoodruff, Frank Pickard, Mrs. Alice Campbell, Mrs. Lida Mae Roberts,and perhaps a few others. Most of these older residents now livein retirement, but a few are active in business.

Early in the twentieth century we find F. O. Butt on the stage ofaction as a practicing attorney. Mr. Butt served his district as senatorin the state legislature, was mayor of Eureka Springs for two termsand newspaper editor for a number of years. He is still on the jobas a practicing attorney.

R. R. (Dick) Thompson came to Eureka Springs in 1908 as ateacher in Crescent College and later became president of the institution.In the middle twenties he established his Lake LucerneResort and the Ozarka Water Company and now devotes his timeto the management of these two concerns.

Claude A. Fuller began practicing law in 1898 and has beenclosely connected with the business interests of the town since thatdate. Mrs. Annie House, “the oldest newspaper woman in Arkansas,”came to Eureka Springs as a child in 1880. Sam A. Leath, our guideand historian, has had an active part in civic affairs since 1898. Hehas been connected with the Chamber of Commerce for many years.Jim Bradley, Joe Porch and Tom Walker are all old-timers who continuein business.

It would take many pages to list all the men and women, nowdead or moved away, who contributed to the building of the town.I name only a few whom I have special reason to remember—CharleyStehm, Major J. W. True, Claude Pike, Harvey Fuller, Floyd Walker,W. N. Duncan, Dr. C. E. Davis, B. J. Rosewater, Dr. C. F. Ellis, Prof.C. S. Barnett, W. O. Perkins, Col. C. D. James, Mrs. Adelaide Wayland,Albert G. Ingalls, A. Q. Burns, William Kappen, H. T. Pendergrass,Dr. J. S. Porch, A. L. Hess, Major W. E. Penn, Earl Newport,Louie Webber, Louie Haneke, Eaton Cole, Dr. J. F. John, Dr. J. H.Webb, Dr. Charles Bergstresser, Dr. Pearl Tateman, Arch Kimberling,George Hardy, Harry Wickham, Lucien Gray, B. L. Rosser, Miss Nellie72Mills, Mrs. Ida Wilhelm, A. J. Fortner, Mr. and Mrs. George Hurt, Dr.J. H. Huntington, Herman and Hugo Seidel, L. E. Lines, John Jennings,Dr. R. G. Floyd and M. M. Chandler. This list is very inadequatebut, as stated above, it includes only those that I have special reasonto remember. In the books written on Eureka Springs by NellieMills and Cora Pinkley Call will be found more complete lists ofthe old residents.

It took World War II to start an influx of homeseekers towardthe Ozarks. This invasion came as an aftermath of the war andEureka Springs received its share. At the opportune time, MargeLyon and her genial husband, Robert (“the jedge”), moved into thecommunity and Marge began telling the story of Eureka Springsand the Ozarks to a vast audience of readers with her column, “Margeof Sunrise Mountain Farm” in the Chicago Tribune. Marge wasinfluential in starting thousands of people in quest of the fuller lifeof the countryside. Retirement people flocked to Eureka Springsto buy homes; others came to go into business. By 1950, EurekaSprings had been given the nickname, “Little Chicago,” because ofthe large number of people from that area.

The town of Eureka Springs owes Marge Lyon a vast debt ofgratitude. Her lucid lines have lured thousands of visitors to thehills, many of whom came to stay and are now happily located farfrom the city’s noise and confusion. They have helped balance thetown’s economy and have added to the culture and social life of thecommunity.

In 1946, I located Ozark Guide magazine at Eureka Springs andhave given the community a national journalistic voice that has aninfluence in bringing both tourists and homeseekers. Eureka Springsis the only Ozark town having an Ozark magazine with nationalspread. It lays the magic carpet for exit from the confusion of thecity to the land of Ozark enchantment.

The assimilation of the newcomers into the social and economiclife of the town has been successful. The ratio of newcomers to nativesis now about fifty-fifty. It is almost impossible to tell an old-timerfrom a newcomer. The melting pot is doing its work.

* * * * * * * *

Eureka Springs is one of the two cities in Arkansas having acommission form of government. The other city is Fort Smith. In1918, this system was adopted for our town. It provides for a commissionof three persons, one of whom is selected to act as mayor.The present commission is composed of Mayor A. J. Russell, RayFreeman and Col. C. C. King. Mr. Russell has been mayor for fourteenyears.

Eureka Springs is a city of churches with the following denominations:Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Christian, Assembly of GodNazarene, Episcopalian, Christian Science and Catholic. The Presbyterianshave the oldest church building. It was built in 1886 followingthe completion of the Crescent Hotel. The same stone masonsbuilt both buildings.

The school system of the city is one of the best in the South. Amodern building was erected in 1951 and it is the last word in convenience.Both the elementary and high schools have “A” ratings.

Eureka Springs has a full quota of civic, fraternal and patrioticorganizations such as: the Masons, Elks, I.O.O.F., Rotarians, Lions,American Legion, Chamber of Commerce, Tourist Council, Woman’sClub, Music Club, Ozark Artists and Writers Guild, home demonstrationclubs, and others. The American Legion hut is one of the finestin the state. The social life of the community is enriched with manycultural and recreational activities throughout the year.

We have a modern post office building with Cecil Walker as postmaster.Carroll County is one of the nine or ten counties of Arkansasthat have two county seats. It has courthouses both at Berryville andEureka Springs. Our courthouse is secondary but represents thewestern district of the county and has offices for both county and cityofficials, a court room, and a jail which is vacant most of the time.

Modern comforts and conveniences make Eureka Springs a pleasantplace to live. Electricity is supplied at reasonable rates by theSouthwestern Gas and Electric Company. Natural gas was installedin the late forties by the Arkansas Western Gas Company. This fuelis both convenient and inexpensive and a great asset to the town.The municipal water supply is adequate for any emergency. Thecity lake is fed by sixteen springs, and a deep well, dug recently.Bonds were voted a year or two ago for the rebuilding of the city’ssewer system and the disposal plant. Most of the streets of the cityare paved. Telephones are available for both business and home use.

For recreation, we have the Harmon Playgrounds, equipped withplayground equipment and stage, and lights for night use. It has aplayground supervisor during the summer months. The city auditoriumseats about 1200 people and is the town’s amusem*nt center forshows, concerts and festivals. The Basin Circle Park is equipped withseats and has a stage for concerts and other entertainments. The NewBasin Theatre, owned and operated by Cecil Maberry, is air conditionedand has a change of program three times a week. The AmericanLegion sponsors square dancing at the city auditorium on Saturdaynights. Throughout the week there is dancing at the Basin Park74and Crescent hotels. Other recreation features of the community are:swimming at Lake Lucerne, Lake Leatherwood, the Camp Joy pool,and Kings and White rivers; fishing and boating at Lake Leatherwoodand the rivers; White River float trips; golf at Lake Lucerne; horsebackriding, scenic motor drives, and hiking. Places of interest totourists include: Onyx Cave, Inspiration Point, The Castle, BlueSpring, Quigley’s Castle, Pivot Rock and Natural Bridge, the OzarkMuseum, Hatchet Hall, Birdhaven, the Bracken Doll Museum, the OldRock House, the springs (63 of them), the Basin Circle Park, HarmonPlaygrounds, St. Elizabeth Church, the views from East Mountain andthe top of the Crescent Hotel, the Narrows, Beaver, White River,Kings River, Hog Scald, Penitentiary Hollow and Revilo Ranch.

Eureka Springs has two bath houses and a modern hospital. Ithas two printing plants, one of which publishes the Eureka SpringsTimes-Echo and prints Rayburn’s Ozark Guide. The volunteer firedepartment has a new truck and modern equipment, and the citypolice force is adequate for local needs. The town has modern motelsand cafes, most of which remain open through the year. Outstandingantique and gift shops are located here. Practically all lines of mercantilebusiness and services are represented at Eureka Springs. Wehave one bank, four lawyers, three doctors, one optometrist and oneundertaker.

In 1948, Eureka Springs had its first Ozark Folk Festival, directedby Robert Serviss. Mr. Serviss got the backing of a number oflocal business men and formed the Folk Festival Association. Servissdirected the festival again in 1949. During the next two years, thelate Harry Wilk, who was president of the Chamber of Commerce,and Ned Bailey, secretary of the organization, put on the festival andextended it from three days to a full week. In 1952, the Festival Associationwas incorporated and Grover Roark elected president. Idirected the festivals in 1952, 1953 and 1954. In 1954 people fromtwenty-seven states attended this event. The festival, held in mid-October,has developed into an immense jamboree and attracts thousandsof visitors.

XXXIV
UNUSUAL ENTERPRISES

One of the treasured thoroughfares of Old Eureka Springs wasthe foot bridge which spanned the canyon at the rear of the stonebuilding, now the Sweet Spring Apartments. The south terminusof this unusual structure was at the rear of Jim Black’s shoe shop. Itwas a short cut to the business section on Spring Street in the vicinityof Sweet, Harding and Crescent Springs. The original Sweet Springwas in the hollow at the rear of the post office to the left of thebridge. This spring was tapped higher up on the bluff when SpringStreet was laid out.

Another unusual structure was the “Bridge Studio” built by SamA. Leath and Steele Kennedy in 1931. The site of this coveredbridge, built for artists and writers, was at the tourist court ownedby these two men—Camp Leath, now Mount Air. It was built acrossa ravine at the rear of the court and was a little more than 100 feetin length. Leath and Kennedy were the sole builders of this structureand their methods stand unique in the annals of engineering.The two ends of the bridge were built alternately, section by section,coming together in the center. After building one end, the oppositeposition was accurately located by Kennedy with a small bore rifle.A board was held by Leath at the north end of the bridge, indicatingwhere the top deck at that point would be. Kennedy placed the shotat the exact point desired. The trueness of the shot was later provedwith a level when the two approaches were closed with the centralspan.

The “Bridge Studio” was built for the artists and writers of theOzarks. The lower deck had five compartments fitted with chairs,tables and lights. The doors were never locked.

A large crowd attended the dedication of the “Bridge Studio”on May 3, 1931. Dr. Charles H. Brough, World War I governor ofArkansas, was the speaker. The story of the unique bridge and itsidealistic purpose was told in newspapers throughout the land. Butit was a dream that soon faded. When Sam Leath sold his court inthe middle thirties and became manager of the Chamber of Commerceat Harrison, the “Bridge Studio” was torn down.

A unique business enterprise in the early days at Eureka Springswas the C. H. McLaughlin grocery, said to be one of the cleanest,best equipped and best arranged groceries in the United States. Mr.McLaughlin built “a better mouse trap” and the world made a beatenpath to his door.

Another interesting project, located four miles north of Eureka76Springs, was Elk Ranch, operated by Gen. Geo. W. Russ and theRiverside Land and Livestock Company from 1902 to about 1917.This ranch contained about 1,500 acres and the principal enterprisewas the breeding of blooded horses. It received its name from theherd of elk that had the run of the ranch. This herd numberedabout 130 at one time.

A recent project, built by Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Quigley on theirfarm four miles south of Eureka Springs is “Quigley’s Castle.” Ithas been called the Ozarks’ strangest dwelling. It is a large stonehouse with the outer walls covered with great flat stones set on edgeand held together with cement. These walls are covered with small,colorful picture rocks and fossils which Mrs. Quigley picked upover a period of years. She engineered the building of the houseand placed the rocks in position. These walls are a geological treasury.

The inside of Quigley’s Castle is a botanical garden and familyhome. The light enters through eight large picture windows. Therooms are built independent of the outer walls with the first floorthree feet from the ground and a four foot space between wall androom. In this space grow many varieties of both tropical and Ozarkplants such as rubber trees, rose bushes, oleanders and a bananatree. Some of these plants grow to a height of twenty-five feet, extendingalmost to the roof. The second floor has a waist-high railingbuilt around the rooms to prevent stepping off into space. Smallbridges permit passage across the chasm at points of entry.

The iron dog which once stood on the pedestal in the BasinCircle where the soldier monument now stands is a missing link in theEureka Springs story. Photographs made from about 1907 to theearly thirties show this dog. According to the old timers, this ironmonster, which weighed 400 pounds, once belonged to a family namedSquires and was an ornament in the yard of their home on thehillside at the rear of the Basin Park Hotel. One Halloween nightabout 1907 the boys moved the iron dog to the park and set it onthe pedestal. In bringing it down the path back of the hotel theybroke off its tail. The city authorities let it remain on the pedestaluntil in the thirties, when it disappeared and the soldier monumenttook its place. No one seems to know what became of the dog, butit is reported that it may be seen in the yard of a home at Springfield,Missouri.

Old-timers will remember “Old Chapultepec,” the cannon whichwas captured by United States troops during the battle of Chapultepecin the Mexican War and brought to Eureka Springs by GeneralPowell Clayton when he located here in the early 1880’s. In 1933J. Rosewater had an article on this old relic in an Arkansas newspaper.Quote:

“In the yard of the Missouri and North Arkansas railway at EurekaSprings, the wood in its once sturdy wheels so decayed theyprovide a very wobbly support, stands a muzzle-loading cannon, soold that few in this community know its history, or how it came tobe in the depot yard.

“Old-timers said the cannon was called ‘Old Chapultepec,’ andthat it was captured by United States troops during the war withMexico at the battle of Chapultepec in 1847. It saw service duringthe Civil war and was left at Little Rock, where Gen. Powell Clayton,Reconstruction governor of Arkansas after the Civil war, obtained itand brought it to Eureka Springs in 1882, while making his home hereafter he ceased to be governor.

“For years it was displayed at public places in the city and at onetime stood on the lawn of the Crescent Hotel. General Clayton gave itto the city and it was moved to the depot, Clayton being interestedin the Missouri and North Arkansas railway, which was known thenas the St. Louis and Eureka Springs railway and terminated at EurekaSprings. Several years later a group known as the Civic ImprovementAssociation built an inclosure and a pedestal for the cannon.

“The cannon stands on a carriage about 3½ feet high. Thebarrel is almost five feet long and about six inches in diameter atthe muzzle. Near the breech is a small touch hole where powder wasused to fire the piece. The cannon can be moved up or down on thecarriage, but to aim it right or left it is necessary to turn the carriage.Apparently the gun was fired in the general direction of the enemyduring battle.

“Eureka Springs citizens used to pull it to a mountain top andfire it on July 4 or to celebrate some political victory, but this customhas long since ceased.”

“Old Chapultepec” was sacrificed for scrap metal during WorldWar II and at the close of the war the government sent the city acaptured German howitzer which was placed in the Basin Circle whereit now stands.

One of the highly prized memorials of our “Stair-Step-Town” isthe Kerens Chapel and the St. Elizabeth’s Church which is widelyknown as “the church entered through the steeple.” This is misleadingas the entry is through a detached belfry and then down a stonecorridor and steps to the chapel and church. The chapel was built asa family memorial in 1907 by Richard Kerens, a St. Louis capitalist,who was one of the owners of the Crescent Hotel. Mr. and Mrs.Kerens and their children, Vincent, Richard, Jr., and Gladys, spentthree or four months of each year at the Crescent. Mr. Kerens’ mothersometimes accompanied them.

One day Mr. Kerens and his mother were on the promenade atthe south end of the hotel talking. As they talked a boy approachedMr. Kerens with a telegram. It was a notification from Washingtonthat he had been appointed ambassador to Austria. He immediatelypacked his bags and took a carriage to the railroad station. As thevehicle crossed the spot where the chapel now stands he waved good-byto his mother who was standing on the promenade. That wasthe last time he saw her for she died while he was abroad.

When Mr. Kerens returned to this country he began making plansfor a memorial to his parents. He wanted it located on the exact spotwhere he last saw his mother. He secured the land and had the hillsideproperly terraced with a thirty foot reinforcement wall. Thiswall was set eight feet in the ground and was five feet thick at thebase in order to give it a solid foundation. The foundation of thechapel went down eighteen feet to make it secure. The structure wasdedicated in 1907. Two years later, Mr. Kerens financed the buildingof St. Elizabeth’s Church adjacent to the chapel, combining the twobuildings. It is one of the most beautiful little churches in Americaand is visited by thousands of tourists each year.

Perhaps the most unusual enterprise in Eureka Springs is thelay-out of the town itself. Was it built haphazardly or with definiteplan? Powell Clayton and other city fathers probably knew, but theylong ago passed to their rewards. They were inspired men and hadgreat faith in the future of the fabulous City of Springs.

St. Elizabeth’s Church

XXXV
THE OUTLOOK

We have had a long look at the past and a peep at the present.What of the future? In my opinion, the outlook for Eureka Springsis good. We have a problem, but its solution is not impossible if wehave faith in the town as the founders had. The big problem ofEureka Springs is to operate successfully on a strictly tourist incomeand meet the competition of other Ozark resorts. We hear complaintsthat the season is too short and the tourist patronage too light. Thetown was originally intended as a health resort, based upon the curativeproperties of the water from the springs. This slant is nowsecondary to recreation. Our chief difficulty is in providing sufficientattractions to hold tourists more than a day or two. Thisproblem must be solved or we will gradually fade out of the picture.

The building of two dams on White River, at Table Rock andat Beaver, will have a great influence on Eureka Springs’ economy.These dams will provide large lakes for recreational purposes. Theywill be within a few minutes drive of our city. We now have approximately150,000 visitors a year but the average stay is only a day ortwo. When the lakes are completed, we should have 500,000 or moretourists a year and they should remain an average of five or sixdays. These figures are based on what has happened at the Lakeof the Ozarks and at Norfork and Bull Shoals. Of course, it willrequire extensive advertising to meet competition. Our facilitiesfor housing and entertaining tourists will have to be enlarged. Thepopulation of Eureka Springs should gradually increase during thenext few years. With the most scenic location in the Ozarks, withflowing springs such as other towns do not have, with nearness totwo lakes with the best of fishing and water sports, it is not extravagantto visualize the population of Eureka Springs as doubled withina few years.

Appropriations have been made to start Table Rock Dam and thecontract has been let. Work started on November 2nd and will continuefour or five years. It is estimated that the building of thisstructure will boost the region’s economy at least $50,000,000. Ofcourse, Branson, Missouri will profit most for the dam will be locatedeight miles above the town, but other communities of the region willbenefit also. The headwaters of the reservoir will reach within afew miles of Eureka Springs.

Beaver Dam has been approved by both houses of Congress, butappropriations have not yet been made. If these appropriations aremade next year, work should get started by 1956 and the structurecompleted about the same time as Table Rock. The Beaver Dam will80be located about ten miles southwest of Eureka Springs and it willbe a big factor in promoting the growth of the community.

For a balanced economy a resort town needs a few small industries.With the coming of the lakes it should be possible to locatea few factories here that will provide substantial pay rolls. Theseindustries should harmonize with the recreational background.Homecrafts should be encouraged.

The unofficial reports of the population of Eureka Springs inthe 1880’s and 1890’s range from 5,000 to 15,000. Old-timers say thatthe population peak was reached about the year 1888. The officialcensus records at the Bureau of Census in Washington do not agreewith these unofficial reports, being considerably less. It is possiblethat the unofficial count took in people who lived outside the citylimits, or who were not permanent residents. At any rate, here isthe report from the Bureau of Census:

1880, 3,984—1890, 3,706—1900, 3,572—1910, 3,228—1920, 2,429—1930,2,276—1940, 1,770—1950, 1,958.

These figures show that the town had its largest official populationin 1880, its first year, and gradually decreased, reaching an all-timelow at the end of the depression in 1940. Then an increase began.The city limits have been extended and a conservative estimate ofthe population at this present time is around 2,100. This increaseshould go to 3,000 by 1960, and to 4,000 by 1970. When the townreaches its Centennial in 1979, it should have a sound economic basisand a population about double what it is now.

FOONOTES

[1]The Eureka Springs (Eureka Springs, Arkansas, May 15,1884) Page 5.

[2]Ibid., Page 8.

[3]The Eureka Springs by W. W. Johnson, M. D., Eureka Springs,Arkansas, 1884, pages 6-8.

[4]The Healing Fountain: Eureka Springs, Ark.: A Complete History.Eureka Springs, Arkansas, 1881, page 4.

[5]Volume 1, pages 163-167.

[6]The Healing Fountain: Eureka Springs, Ark. 1881. Pages3 and 4.

[7](Eureka Springs, Arkansas) 1952 pp. 18-20.

[8]We acknowledge credit to Mr. Sam A. Leath for the historical data of this narrative.

[9]The Eureka Springs, (1881), pp. 10-11.

[10]The material for this story was supplied by the late Louis Hanecke, Sam A.Leath and Steele Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy and others wrote feature articlesabout it which appeared in Sunday newspapers a few years ago.

[11]The Healing Fountain, Eureka Springs (1881), p. 12.

[12]The Healing Fountain: Eureka Springs, Ark. pp. 22-24.

[13]Pp. V-VIII.

[14]Rayburn’s Ozark Guide, No. 33, Summer, 1952, p. 31.

[15]The Healing Fountain: Eureka Springs. p. 7.

[16]Life and Adventures of John Gaskins. p. XII.

[17]Rayburn’s Ozark Guide, No. 15, Spring, 1947, pp. 7-10.

[18]See my Ozark Country. pp. 283-286.

(Note. The tavern operated by the uncle of the James boys waslocated at the spot now occupied by the Phillips 66 station andgrocery on U. S. Highway 62.)

[19](New York), 1952. pp. 42-43.

[20]Compare with the chapter on Hog Scald in my Ozark Country,pp. 244-246.

Transcriber’s Notes

Silently corrected a few palpable typos.
Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.
In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.

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The Eureka Springs Story (2024)

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Eureka Springs Story

ILEGENDS OF THE MAGIC HEALING SPRINGS

IITHE STORY OF MOR-I-NA-KI

III“THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH”

IVTHE DISCOVERY OF THE INDIAN HEALING SPRING

VTHE STORY OF MAJOR COOPER[8]

VITHE COW TRIAL ON LEATHERWOOD CREEK

VIITHE NAMING OF THE TOWN

VIIITHE CITY IN EMBRYO

IXJOHN GASKINS—BEAR HUNTER

X“WATER PACKIN’ DAYS”

XITHE COMING OF THE RAILROAD

XIITHE JAMES BOYS ON PLANER HILL

XIIIHIGHLIGHTS OF HISTORY AND FOLKLORE

XIVTHE CAPTURE OF BILL DOOLIN

XVSTORIES IN STONE

XVITHE SPRINGS

XVIITHE LAY OF THE TOWN

XVIIITHE STREET CAR SYSTEM

XIXCARRY A. NATION

XXA BANK ROBBERY THAT FAILED

XXIINSPIRATION POINT

XXIIDISTINGUISHED VISITORS

XXIIIHOG SCALD

XXIVBOUNTIES OF NATURE

XXV“UPS AND DOWNS”

XXVITHE STORY OF BLUE SPRING

XXVIISCENIC ATTRACTIONS

XXVIIITHE BASIN PARK HOTEL

XXIXTHE CRESCENT

XXXHOTEL HISTORY

XXXI“BACKWOODS BARON”

XXXIIWRITERS AND ARTISTS’ MECCA

XXXIIITHE OLD AND THE NEW

XXXIVUNUSUAL ENTERPRISES

XXXVTHE OUTLOOK